Tokyo Dawn
by TheAlchemist'sDaughter
Summary: ON HIATUS Sequel to Tokyo Nights - It's been three years, now the Dojo is facing a new enemy, a new Bakumatsu, and new personal challenges. Stretched further than ever before, will they make it through, or fall apart?  Supernatural K/K, B/K, A/M, S/M,
1. Three years later

**Author's Note: **After two years (?) I've gone back to this, and actually decided to try posting it. It's the sequel to a story I wrote called Tokyo Nights, which I more or less think you need to have read to understand this. Basically, the Kenshin-gumi are vampires, werewolves, etc. I hope this makes anyone who's still waiting happy.

Chapter 1

Kenshin took a step forward, leaning on the last tree as he passed it, and the world expanded into a snow-filled clearing. A small house was nestled against the trees at the far end. Smoke trickled out from the chimney, and he recognised the scene as home.

He started to walk towards the house, when the door opened and Tomoe came out to meet him. She smiled at him and met him halfway in the snow, in the centre of the clearing.

A small part of Kenshin, at the back of his mind, had the feeling that something was wrong. He knew something bad was coming, but he could only watch in puzzlement as the scene continued to play. The vampire crouched and bared his fangs, hissing like a wild animal. Kenshin leapt at her and she screamed. It didn't sound real, he'd never even heard Tomoe raise her voice in all the time he had known her.

Then he was kneeling in the snow with her cradled in his lap and suddenly everything was far too familiar. The only thing that was missing was the warm liquid feeling of her blood healing his wounds. He looked down in horror, frantically praying to God that this wasn't real. He knew he had no right as a soulless thing to ask for mercy, but still he begged and offered up his life in exchange for hers. His heart felt as if his own nature's toxic grip had closed around it and was wringing the hope and happiness from it by force.

The look on Tomoe's face was one of horror and hatred - a look he hadn't thought she was capable of - but he knew she was right. He deserved it. The dagger in her hand was bloody from her failed attempt to defend herself. Her black eyes despised him with more passion than her dying body should have been able to hold, and she was now the one he begged for mercy.

Blood bubbled between her lips as she spat one word with her failing breath.

"_Mon-ster_."

Suddenly it was Kaoru in his arms, with that same accusatory glare. He could taste the copper of blood on his tongue. Blood continued to pour from his bite on her neck at an impossible rate, saturating his clothes and the snow around him. She reached up and grabbed the front of his gi, trying shakily to pull herself up, with a violent look of revenge distorting her face. Her teeth were red with blood as her lips pulled back to speak again.

"_Ev-il_."

Her whole body was shaking with the effort of keeping herself close to his face. Her blue eyes sparked with betrayal. Kenshin was horrified. He tried to pull her off him but he couldn't bring himself to touch her undead flesh. It was cold and clammy and made it feel as if the Devil was already here to claim his soul and damn it to Hell. He tried to escape her, but his feet and hands slipped in the depth of the bloody slush. The zombie used its other hand to follow him as he floundered in the pool of thick, congealing crimson snow. He felt powerless against the woman he loved as she hauled herself after him with her skeletal fingers wrapped in his clothes.

"_Vam-pire_."

He could hear the air rattle through her lungs. Behind her, the tall trees stood sentinel, watching and approving as he received his punishment. There was no help or sympathy for him in the entire world. He was alone in the fight for his life and sanity. She reached for his throat, and he knew that if she touched him then a worse fate would begin. He crossed his arms over his head.

"Please, please, I'm sorry, I never meant to – It was an accident, I - " He babbled frantically, desperate for some kind of appeasement.

"_Sorry_? _Accident_? _Killer! Vam-pire!_" cried the creature indignantly. Its voice echoed as if there were legions of voices behind it, two-hundred years' worth of victims, condemning him, demanding justice for the theft of their lives.

"Kenshin..." It was Kaoru's sweetest voice, whispered in moments of true happiness, heavy with adoration.

"It's alright, I don't mind..." It was Tomoe's last words, love beating under the monotone of her soothing and forgiving voice.

Kenshin gasped and sobbed, and the corpse cackled triumphantly above him. Its brain seemed to be decomposing while its body became less and less human. The unforgiving scent of death drifted to Kenshin's nostrils and he sobbed again with grief at having killed his love, both of them merged into one demon sent to torment him. He tried to grab its waist and lift the thing off him, but the loose yellow flesh came free under his palms. He cried out in disgust and self-pity.

The thing murmured in mocking sympathy. "_Aw, do you miss us, Battousai_?" it said in his ear as he turned his face away and shut his eyes so tight it hurt. "_Will you kiss us now, Kenshin Kenshin Kenshin? Dear Kenshin, Kenshin my love? Kiss us..._"

All he could do was whimper. He didn't have the energy to fight anymore. It seemed inevitable. All that was left to him now was his own despair to drive him insane. He could already feel his mind fracturing slowly under the torture of this experience.

The thing nuzzled his cheek, emitting a giggling purr, and leaving a trail of slime. Then it was suddenly furious, clawing at his face and shaking him and screaming. His eyes flew open under the attack and he was forced to see the rotting zombie that he had once loved and cherished. The mood swing kept him from settling into his torment, from taking his mind away and becoming desensitised to what was happening to him.

"_Guilty_!" it shrieked at the top of its lungs, like the call of a bird of prey. The trees rustled in the wind and seemed to murmur in agreement.

"_No soul_," it said calmly now, sounding almost sad. "_Dead_ _like me_." It lay down against his chest the way a lover would and squished its pulpy fingers between his, holding his hand. "_Mine forever_."

Kenshin crushed his eyes closed again in agony as the dream continued.

oOo

Kaoru woke before Kenshin.

That was the plan. She lay on her side, watching the clock. Over three years, she had learned the exact times that Kenshin woke up, whatever the season. It was summer now, so the nights were shorter.

"Battousai," she cooed softly a moment before he woke up. It worked, she got the one she wanted.

Two cold amber irises glinted at her through the dark, looking down at where she lay, her head resting against his thigh, in position.

"I've been waiting," she pouted. He didn't say anything. He rarely said much. It was his way, to watch and see what her little game was. Chances were he already knew. It was pretty obvious.

She'd been planning this for a night or two. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her and Battousai to have sex. The Rurouni tasted her blood, after all. In the beginning, the division had been clear, the two men had different interests and different rules. The Rurouni got her body, while the Hitokiri got her blood. That was the way they had both wanted it, having no interest in what the other had.

But somewhere along the way, the line had become blurred. The Rurouni had accidentally bitten her while making love, and then it stopped being much of an accident anymore. He didn't take as much as Battousai, and it was never with the same fervour, nor did he do it every time, but it happened enough, and Kaoru didn't stop him.

As for Battousai, looking back, it had only been a matter of time. The bond between them filled them with a need to possess each other and become one, before violently forcing them apart, of course. It had taken one or two accidents there as well, before Battousai stopped fighting it and moved them from the couch to the bedroom.

However it was only recently that he would go without biting her at all. He was a very different lover from Kenshin, he was much crueller. His favourite game was to push her to the edge, then hold her back, until she screamed and writhed and cursed him with painful and graphic tortures.

That had been the first time Kaoru had ever heard him laugh, low and warm. It was a perfect sound, with no harshness to it. At the time it had only made her be even more colourful in her depictions, until he shut her up by kissing her and finally giving her what she wanted, but afterwards she took the time to be surprised. But it was too late then, he'd returned to normal, and didn't like to be reminded of his moment of weakness. But she knew now how happy he could be with her, even if it was only when she was wishing him dead.

The Hitokiri had also relaxed somewhat in the past three years with her. She could tell he had been nervous of spending the day in her bed, when he would be defenceless. He did it, because he knew rationally that she would never lift a finger against him. But now he always waited to see if he was in danger, before acting, instead of automatically assuming the worst.

Part of this was probably due to all his effort with the bond between them. Accepting that he was stuck with it, he had worked at levelling the playing field. Kaoru could still force him to do things against his will, or they assumed she could as the need hadn't arisen in a while, but now Battousai could use his end of the bond to get in her head, to experience what she was feeling and where she was. It wasn't one-sided anymore.

It had taken three years, but Kaoru finally thought he was secure enough to pretend that she was the dominant one for a while. She would never actually use the power she had over him, or she knew it would be immediate Game Over, but she was relieved when Battousai decided to wait and see when he awoke naked under Kaoru with a glint in her eye.

She could see the remnants of the old wariness, the suspicion. He didn't like being blind-sided. The only thing that kept him still was the knowledge that he was infinitely stronger than her, and that she wouldn't dare incur his wrath by putting him in a situation he couldn't get out of. He knew he would be able to put a stop to whatever she was planning at any moment, and if she had wanted to betray him, she wouldn't have waited until he was awake.

But still she tried to reassure him, brushing her fingers along the inside of his thigh, and watching as it had the desired effect. Obviously he couldn't be _that _unhappy. She lowered her head and kissed his abdomen, looking up the length of him to monitor his mood. She was waiting for him to realize the extent of the position he was in, it wouldn't be any fun if he didn't. She kissed him again and let her tongue trace little southbound spirals, still glancing upward now and then.

Finally, he tried to move, to reach down and touch her somehow, only to find that his wrists were tied to the bed. Kaoru smiled. It was only ordinary rope; he would only be restrained if he allowed it. A flash of anger went through his eyes in the dark. Kaoru knew those ropes wouldn't last for long, so she quickly swallowed as much of him as she could to appease him, feeling him grow harder and bigger in her mouth. He growled softly, his top lip raised in a faint snarl, something Kaoru had long since learned was not a threat. He expressed most of his emotions that way, whether pain or pleasure.

He sank back into the pillows as Kaoru continued. She let him feel her teeth grazing him slightly as she moved over him, and his knee pulled up, the only physical reaction she was likely to get. But she was pleased, she knew he would have preferred not to move at all or show that he was affected in any way, so it meant that she was doing something right. She brought in her thumbs to massage anywhere she wasn't already reaching.

She moaned for him, and the vibrations made the muscles in his abdomen jerk in anticipation. He was close, but not quite close enough. The heat of her mouth had warmed his cold flesh, and she could taste him. She pressed her tongue hard against him and glanced up at his face. He looked calm but his hand was gripping the rope fiercely.

She started to move more slowly, and he looked down at her in frustration. The sparkle in her blue eyes told him what this game was about. This was about revenge, about turning the tables. She wanted to play with him the way he played with her, deliberately keeping him from achieving his end.

Ha, as if he'd ever allow that.

The only warning Kaoru got was the sound of the ropes snapping like rubber bands. Then she was hauled upwards and planted firmly on her back.

"Aw, spoil my fun," she said, pouting at him. His luxurious scarlet hair spilled over his shoulder to tickle her neck. His eyes were burning with revenge.

"You're my fun now," he said in his beautiful, dark voice. He was happy again, that pure, unadulterated, untainted happiness that he only seemed to feel when one or both of them was being evil. Revenge was something he truly enjoyed, it was a comfort zone for him. His sense of keeping up appearances melted away in these moments, and he was even free enough to crack little half-jokes. It was times like this that Kaoru got to know the real Battousai.

She gasped as his fingers sunk mercilessly deep inside her. She couldn't pretend this hadn't been her plan all along. She had of course known that it would end this way. But she had a plan, something she'd been wondering about for a while. She hadn't really been satisfied with her little show of dominance, a man like Battousai was too volatile for that game, but she had hopes of doing a number on him now.

She let him think he was punishing her, she let herself get aroused as she watched him enjoy his power over her. Wriggling a bit, she managed to stroke his arousal and run her hands over his chest and back. She ran her nose up his neck and nibbled his collarbone. Then she reached down inside herself, found the glimmering nugget of gold that connected them, and tore it open full force.

Battousai almost fell on her as his mental walls vanished. He reflexively went on the defensive, but Kaoru drew him into her own mind. They had never been connected this way without blood being shared. Kaoru began feeding him her own pleasure, clenching her walls around his fingers and grinding herself against his hand that remained almost forgotten. She felt him shudder against her, and smiled with smug satisfaction.

Battousai surprised her by responding with tenderness. He kissed and nuzzled her shoulder. It was cute, and it caused the love that Kaoru felt for him to well up inside her. She felt Battousai explore it in her mind with a readiness that made her realise that it had been his plan. She also felt a small pinprick of hurt that his actions hadn't been sincere.

Kaoru was embarrassed, knowing that Battousai considered the love she had ended up with an inconvenience at the best of times, and a sickening weakness at the worst. But his summoning it deliberately confused her. Why did he want to feel her love for him? He never had before. She couldn't quite gage his reaction to it though because he stroked his fingers through her again, and she was too busy feeling it.

Soon he removed his hand and entered her fully. Their minds were as tangled as their bodies were, so it was hard to tell who was doing what and to whom, but whoever came first pulled the other with them. Echoes of the orgasm ricocheted between them until they were both spent and heavily satisfied. Battousai withdraw back into himself, rolling off her silently, and she was too weak to move just yet. Kaoru couldn't tell who had won the game in the end, but she committed herself to a rematch with a smile.

oOo

They each showered and got dressed and ready for the night. By the time Kaoru left the bedroom, Kenshin was just finishing her breakfast. Battousai didn't usually stick around very long after they had sex, Kaoru suspected he was sleeping it off in Kenshin's sub-conscious. That or he was ashamed. She didn't mind however, as she sometimes found herself with a horny Rurouni to keep her company.

But as soon as she smelt the food, which in itself was harmless enough, nothing out of the ordinary, a wave of nausea hit her. She groaned and turned her face away in disgust.

"Kaoru..."

She heard the beginnings of an old argument they'd been having a lot recently, and headed it off. "I'm just not hungry, Kenshin!" she pleaded.

He sighed heavily, "You haven't been hungry for two weeks, Kaoru. You should go to see Megumi-san,"

"But I feel fine the rest of the time!" she repeated for what felt like the hundredth time.

"What harm could it do just to check?" he reasoned.

"I don't want to trouble her over nothing, I'll just eat more later,"

"It might not be nothing, and you know it's not about how much you eat in the day, it's about why you can't eat now,"

"But I feel fine!"

And so the conversation would go, round and round, until one of them gave up and started talking about something else. This time Kenshin sighed heavily and walked up to her. He took her hand and looked her deep in the eyes.

"Just check, Kaoru. For me," he said.

This sly sincerity was the Kenshin equivalent to puppy dog eyes. Kaoru squirmed and whined, but Kenshin kept his hands wrapped around hers, holding it close to his chest, and looking down at her.

"Oh, all right!" Kaoru cried, caving in eventually. His devotion was his biggest weapon against her. Though she had to admit that she didn't want him to worry about her as he obviously was doing, and it would stop him from bringing it up every evening.

Kenshin smiled and kissed her hand, "Thank you," he said.

"I hate you," she said petulantly once he had turned his back to clear up her uneaten breakfast. Kenshin only laughed,

"Well, that's too bad because I love you," he replied. Kaoru just grumbled.

She sat on the examination table down in the infirmary, swinging her legs. The nausea had already passed and she really felt that she might like to eat now. She didn't feel that she needed to be here, which only made it worse. Megumi stood opposite her.

"Alright, Kaoru, what are the symptoms?" she asked, her arms folded. Kaoru rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I feel sick when I get up and skip breakfast," she said. When Megumi remained silent, waiting for more, Kaoru added an explanatory rant. "Kenshin made me come, okay? He's always worrying about the tiniest little thing. It's probably nothing. I feel fine the rest of the time, and I hardly ever actually throw up."

"No, no, Kenshin was right to make you come, better safe than sorry, though I can't make a diagnosis on only that. I'll take some blood and send it off for some tests, and get back to you. You might be right, it's probably nothing dangerous, but it'll be nice to know what causing it, won't it?"

So Kaoru had to sit through having her blood taken, not for the first time in her career. The Dojo had a policy of keeping a stock of employees' blood just in case. She always hated giving blood, and the hypocrisy of that was not lost on her.

Megumi had adjusted well to her new werewolf condition, though she never wanted to talk about it. She and Sano were now living together in a bigger apartment in the Dojo. From the outside, things seemed to be going well between them, more stable than Kaoru thought Sano's personality would allow.

But it was true that every once in a while there seemed to be tensions, cracks in the relationship. Kaoru would ask or say something and Megumi would press her lips tight together and change the subject, or Sano would look away. Kaoru could never have predicted that they would get together - they just seemed to value different things - but they had seemed so happy in the beginning.

Kaoru didn't ask, she didn't want to pry and she knew she wouldn't get an answer. Megumi much preferred to handle things privately and on her own.

"The results should come in a few days, I'll give you a call when they get here," said Megumi, finishing and packing up.

"Okay, thanks," Kaoru replied, bending her elbow over the little plaster Megumi had put on to stop the bleeding.

"And don't worry, if nothing hurts then I don't expect it's anything serious," she said.


	2. The Invitation

Chapter 2

At the Aoiya, there was a tangible thrum in the air. The date of Misao's initiation was fast approaching, and, though no one's was as big as the girl herself's, it seemed like everyone was wearing a smile. Everyone, that was, except the Okashira, who looked as expressionless as always, though if you brought the ceremony up, he would try not to talk about it and look a little sick.

It was true, he was not eager to make Misao a vampire, but he would never dream of stopping her. A small part of him was still hoping she would change her mind, and his continued efforts to get her to do so were getting on Misao's nerves. He thought he was being subtle, but he was becoming less and less so as time went on.

After three years, Misao understood that it wasn't because he didn't love her that he wanted her to stay human, but because he did, so she tried not to rebuke him too harshly. Most of the time, she just laughed and hugged him and told him that nothing could ever change her mind away from being with him. She was confident that once she had been turned, he would get used to it.

He had even gone to the lengths of making her watch him feed. The Oniwabanshuu weren't like Himura, they killed their victims, with the odd exception. However, they usually fed on the homeless or "bad" people. This time Aoshi had left the man alive, obviously drawing the line between shocking her with the truth and making himself look like a monster.

It had worked in so far as the poor man had her sympathies, and her stomach turned when she thought of doing that herself, but she could never change her mind. There was no other option for her, becoming a vampire and living forever by Aoshi's side was her destiny. It was what she was born for. But their relationship was strained for a few days after that. Aoshi never could stand to have Misao distant from him, so he soon regretted his actions, and he made sure things went back to normal pretty soon after that.

Now her initiation was only two days away. Everything was ready, the white ceremonial kimono she would wear was hanging up on the door of her wardrobe, the first and last thing she saw every day. Every Oniwabanshuu member had cleared their schedule for that night. Aoshi was visibly a little twitchy, while inside he felt like tearing his hair out. He loved her, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that she hadn't lived life enough as a human. He still felt like he was robbing her of something. What he didn't understand was that for Misao life began only after her initiation.

Misao was in the kitchen, vaguely aware that she hadn't seen anyone else since she had got up. Then Omasu pushed the door open, and said, keeping her eyes on the floor and not moving from the doorway,

"Aoshi would like to see you, Misao." There was something in her voice that turned Misao's stomach cold, and she swallowed heavily. Her voice was flat and dead, the bearer of bad news. She followed Omasu to Aoshi's office, walking in silence as if to her final judgement.

Omasu knocked, then entered, immediately taking her place against the wall with the others. Aoshi was sitting behind his desk, with Hannya on one side and Okina on the other. He held a single sheet of white paper. Misao scanned the room quickly, hoping to find some kind of clue as to what was happening. Everybody avoided her eye which, on top of the fact that the whole clan seemed to be there, increased her anxiety tenfold.

"Misao," Her lover's voice was tired, and heavy with the apprehension of misery. He kept his eyes on the paper in his hand. "I have received a letter, an invitation," he sighed quietly to himself, "To the Vampire Court. We are all invited. We cannot refuse."

Only at this point did he look up to gage her reaction. She was still scared, her eyes flicking from face to face, trying to see how this affected her, and why they were all so upset. Aoshi seemed to be waiting for her to say something before he continued, but all she could manage was a slight "Uh-huh."

His eyes returned to the summons. "They want you as well, which I am _not_ happy about," For the first time, his true anger at the situation reared up, but he pushed it down again. "The meeting is not for two weeks. They want you as you are."

Again his eyes flicked up to watch her as the implications of this sunk in. Everybody was watching her now. The meaning came to her slowly, trickling through her hopes whether she wanted it to or not. She would not get her initiation.

Only her innate optimism kept her from having a meltdown. Dating Aoshi for three years had led to some of his restraint rubbing off on her.

_Don't cause a scene,_ she told herself._ Find a solution, a loophole, anything._

This unfairness couldn't be real, fate was not so cruel. Aoshi was not asking her to wait a second time. He wouldn't put off her initiation. He had given her his word.

Silently she stepped towards the desk, her hand outstretched for the invitation, which Aoshi handed to her. First, she merely skimmed it, double checking everything he had said. But then she read through it again, analysing every word, exploring every possibility in her mind until she ran into a dead end. Finally, she was forced to accept that he was right. There was no way out, the letter was addressed to _Aoshi Shinomori, Okashira of the Kyoto Oniwabanshuu, and his human servant Misao Makimachi._

It went on from there, giving times, dates, addresses, even dress code and etiquette written in a little footnote as if they didn't want the rules to ruin the splendour of their presentation. Aoshi was not expected to come alone with her, he was welcome to bring an appropriate number of his ninjas with him, but two things were clear. Misao had to go, and she had to be human. Their authority was subtle, but dangerous. The gold-embossed linen paper displayed their power and wealth equally. Misao let her hand drop.

"So who are these guys anyway?" she asked, to fill the silence while she processed the news and her emotions, and tried to pull the frayed threads of her mind back together. She noticed she had assumed the same defeated, tired look and tone of the others. The bodies lining the wall were now looking at her with pity and worry, as if they felt her pain.

"The Vampire Court are, in theory, the ruling class," explained Aoshi. "Supposedly, they are the strongest vampires in the world. If anyone governs vampire law, it's them. Every few hundred years, they will pass a law and make sure it's followed. The rest of the time, they fight amongst themselves and have parties such as this one. Needless to say, they consider themselves above the law. They rule through fear, and numbers, exterminating any clan that grows large enough to be a threat. Each member has their own clan, and together they are too powerful to be opposed. I have met them only once, and only for a few moments. They made a routine summons when I first became Okashira, to see if I would be a trouble to them. Apart from that, I have had no contact with them."

"So why do they want to see us now?" asked Misao, a little tingle of fear going through her at the prospect of being an object of interest to these all-powerful vampires. She continued to look unimpressed though, as her anger, disappointment and feeling of betrayal kept her from sympathising with Aoshi's situation.

"I don't know," he said, and an almost imperceptible swirl of fear uncurled behind his eyes as he looked at her.

Misao replaced the invitation on his desk.

"Well, I guess it's not all bad. You got what you wanted," she spat venomously before turning on her heel and slamming the door behind her, unable to leave her bitterness unexpressed.

Aoshi sighed through his nose. That was exactly the reaction he had feared. Everyone else seemed relieved, Misao hadn't broken down, screaming and crying as they had expected. Aoshi knew this was much worse. She blamed him for this. And it didn't surprise him, despite the fact that he found no joy in her initiation being postponed this way.

This was bad, and Misao's involvement, and the expressed wish that she be left human, meant she could be in danger. He didn't ask how it was that they knew that her first initiation had been cancelled, or how they knew that she was still human for two more days. The Court seemed to know everything that went on in the vampire world without even trying. He was confident, however, that they couldn't possibly know that much of the truth, or they wouldn't be summoning them. It wasn't worth investigating anyway. Coming up with a plan was much more important.

Aoshi thought again of Misao. He knew how she would take the decision to leave her human. He was suddenly reminded of her flight from the Headquarters the last time she had felt rejected and, while he didn't seriously expect her to run away again, he knew he needed to make sure before he would be able to do anything else. He stood up, pushing his chair away from his desk.

"I will talk to her," he said, simultaneously dismissing his clan. Nobody was surprised. While Aoshi had never been one for public displays of affection, his and Misao's relationship was far from a secret. Everyone supported it, or if they had their doubts they kept their mouths shut. They all loved Misao and respected Aoshi too much to ever act against what obviously made them happy.

He found Misao's room and knocked on the door. The only reply he got was a sad sniff from the other side. He went in anyway, and sat next to Misao. She was lying on her back on her bed, playing with a ninja teddy-bear that she had resting on her bent knees. She was crying, but she wasn't hysterical. For a moment, neither of them said anything, Misao pretending he wasn't there.

"You know I don't want this," he said quietly.

"Don't you? I thought you did. You've been trying to avoid turning me for a long time, Aoshi-sama, and now you've got an indefinite extension. Lucky you," Misao said dejectedly.

"Misao, I would bite you right now if it would allow me to keep you away from _them_," replied Aoshi earnestly. Misao was so surprised by this, as her hope dared to open its eyes again, that she sat up and put the bear to one side.

"Why don't you?" she said beseechingly, her face close to his and her eyes reading deep into his own ice blue ones.

"No," he replied, sounding almost disappointed himself. Misao sighed; she had expected that response.

"Are they really that scary, Aoshi-sama?" she asked, voicing her fears for the first time, hoping for some kind of reassurance but knowing that her love would never baby her by lying to her. He sighed and opened his arms to her, and she readily crawled into his lap. His strong arms closed around her and she felt safer. He kissed her shoulder.

"Now that I have you to protect," he said. "Yes, they scare me."

"I'm sorry," she said, feeling bad for being a weakness to him.

"Never apologise to me for that, Misao," he answered with a deep affection. Misao smiled, her usual happy nature slowly returning.

"Don't worry, Aoshi-sama, I bet nothing bad will happen to me," she said.

"No, I won't let it," agreed Aoshi fiercely. They were quiet then, and Aoshi closed his eyes, breathing in her scent and resting his head against hers. Then he spoke again, "You have forgiven me for making you wait?" he asked. Now it was Misao's turn to sigh.

"Yeah, I know it's not your fault. It just sucks, you know? I mean, you gave your word and everything," she said.

"I know, but I promise that as soon as it's safe, I will make you one of us. I almost regret my hesitation. You would not be in this situation now if I had not let my emotions get in the way when you were eighteen," he said.

"I'm glad you did let your emotions get in the way, or we might never have got together, remember?" Misao smiled, goading him into thinking of a happier subject.

"I remember. I was tactless, and you ran away. I went mad with worry."

"Yeah, but you found me, you came to take me home," It was shallow of her, but she loved to hear Aoshi talk this way.

Aoshi frowned. "The bartender," he said. Misao rolled her eyes.

"Nothing ever happened with him! You just have bad timing. Sheesh, how come you only remember the bad stuff, anyway?"

"I remember the good stuff as well," he said, his voice taking on a slightly husky tone, and giving her a look that made her tingle. She couldn't resist taking his face in her hand and kissing him. But when they broke away he said,

"Though I could have handled that better as well." Misao groaned and rolled her eyes again. She grabbed his broad shoulders and shook him as best she could, which was admittedly not very well.

"Don't be such a black cloud, Aoshi-sama! You _are_ in my bedroom, after all..." she said suggestively. Thankfully, he did change his tune, kissing her properly, one of his kisses that made her feel like a very rare and valuable commodity. Even the stoic Okashira was capable of kissing with real, heady emotion. Very capable, as far as Misao was concerned.

They broke apart, and the pensive atmosphere returned.

"So, what's going to happen now?" she asked eventually.

"I'm going to try to find out as much as I can. You need to talk to Okon about getting you a dress," he replied.

"What? No! Why do I have to wear a dress?" cried Misao, ever slightly the tomboy.

"I suspect they think you're some kind of pet to me, and it'll be safer for you anyway. It's best if they don't expect you to be able to fight."

"But... Aoshi-sama..." Misao was speechless. She knew what Aoshi decided was best, but she really, really didn't want to wear a dress.

"Don't worry. You can amuse yourself trying to hide as many weapons as you can in it. In fact, I order you to."

Misao folded her arms in a huff.

"And where are these people again?" she said sulkily.

"At the moment, Tokyo."

"Ooh, we'll get to see Kaoru and Himura again!"

And so Misao's twenty-first birthday passed as any other. The Oniwabanshuu tried to make it up to her, they threw her a party with a cake and presents, even Aoshi joined in, kissing her and telling her Happy Birthday, but it wasn't the same. She was still disappointed at being cheated out of her initiation. But that was nothing compared to the danger that was coming.


	3. The Gathering Storm

Chapter 3

Kaoru walked through the city with an easy, unhurried step. The air was warm now that it was summer. She was on her way to the Akabeko for her shift there, helping any walk-ins.

After the little diner was basically razed to the ground three years ago, Tae had redesigned and rebuilt it with a fresh new look. It was now black, with green and red neon, green for wolves and red for vampires. At the back the two colours tangled together in a geometric floral pattern for anyone else. Obviously, customers were free to sit wherever they wanted, but most preferred to sit with their own kind, and the older ones still harboured grudges against the other species anyway.

The new decor made it more of a club than a diner, though of course they still served food. They had a special were-menu, with senselessly large portions of meat, all happily taste-tested by Sano during the design stage. Likewise, the vampires had their own menu, this sporting a selection of blood cocktails, reluctantly taste-tested by Kenshin. And there was a third menu for witches, humans, and anyone else with a normal appetite.

This new gimmick meant Tae did a roaring trade, enough to hire more waitresses and the inevitably necessary security. This security was two out of three wolves who took turns, and any vampire who wanted to earn a few bucks by sitting in doing basically nothing for a night. The wolves were actually the three that Battousai had dismembered during the Juppongatana's attack on the original Akabeko.

Their reconstructive surgeries had worked well enough for them to function, and after three years they were almost as good as new, though they still sported grisly, Frankenstein-esque scars on their muscled arms. They seemed to like them, always showing them off with tight black muscle-tees.

Three years ago, Kaoru had taken responsibility for them somewhat impetuously to prove a point to Battousai, but it had worked out well. The wolves were eternally grateful for being so compassionately put back together, and since none of them were alphas, or even close, Kaoru readily accepted that they were only following orders when working for Shishio. And he was dead by the time they woke up from their surgery, anyway. So they were left with nowhere to go, since their pack would never accept them back once they'd been disgraced in battle and captured by the enemy. And they hadn't held any hard feelings towards Kenshin, amazingly, considering it all fair in love and war.

So Kaoru had convinced Tae to take them on. She couldn't keep them at the Dojo as Sano flat out refused to allow three new wolves he didn't know, and who had previously been working for the enemy, into what was basically his territory. At first they had been more than happy to work for free in their gratitude, considering the room and board luxury enough, but since the restaurant was doing so well, Tae insisted on paying them something. So now Kaoru had won herself three wolves who were deathly loyal to her and the Dojo.

The soft rock that was always playing now drowned out the little electronic ding-dong that had replaced the original bell over the door. Kaoru took her usual table in the neutral row that ran down the middle of the room dividing vamps from wolves. The place was buzzing with conversation, all sections doing well, with pale fingers holding creepy red cocktails on one side and tables straining under the weight of a dozen plates on the other. There was also a small coven of witches in the back, leaning close together to talk privately.

Tae soon came over, wearing the new uniform of tight black trousers and a tight t-shirt with _Akabeko_ written across the back in silver with a full moon hanging above the A and her name stitched over her heart on the front. Tae always wore colourful accessories to balance out the black, and she managed to look both sexy and kick-ass as well as modest and kind. Kaoru had never realised what a body Tae had before she saw her in the new uniform, and she hadn't missed that Katsu was coming in a lot more frequently now too, and she doubted it was solely for the food.

With the new waitresses, Tae could afford to keep Tsubame out of the new uniforms, and behind the register or in the back, wearing a much more conservative outfit. Tsubame was now fourteen, though she still seemed like a little girl to Kaoru. Every once in a while, her beauty would shine through like sunshine through clouds, but most of the time, the girl contrived to keep it hidden, as she was still just as shy. But that didn't stop Yahiko, who was now fifteen, from spending a suspicious amount of time with her. Kaoru was used to it by now though, and hardly even bothered to tease him about it anymore, unless he called her ugly, of course.

"No Kenshin tonight?" asked Tae sweetly in her Southern accent.

"Battousai's out on the prowl tonight, I'm afraid," answered Kaoru. Tae had become a lot less squeamish about Battousai's gastronomy since she had started serving blood in glasses with little umbrellas. But Kaoru was sure Battousai didn't hunt every single time he went out anyway, she knew he just wanted to get away from her and be independent for a while, which she accepted. That was always going to have to be part of the deal.

It wasn't like they had any deep and meaningful conversations anyway. The bond between them meant they needed each other, physically and otherwise, but apart from that there wasn't that much to their relationship. They each took what they needed to get by, filling their quota of each other, but further than that they just stayed out of each other's hair. It wasn't ideal, but they were too different. Kaoru might have liked to have a little more substance in her relationship with him, but she enjoyed what moments they did have together, and she took what she could get.

Tae nodded and pulled up her notepad and pen. "Can Ah get you anything?" she asked.

"I don't know, any business tonight?" Tae knew Kaoru meant official Dojo business.

"Not so far, but the night is young. Ah've noticed things have been a little tense recently," she said, glancing around at her customers.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll just have some orange juice or something then," said Kaoru. Tae nodded and wandered off to get her drink. Kaoru settled back in her seat and pulled out some paper work to do if nothing came up. Tae delivered her orange juice and she got started.

A couple of hours into the night, the little alarm over the door went, and Kaoru glanced up as she always did. It was a twitchy male vampire who walked as if he expected to be punished and looked just a little bit too thin to be good for him. He had thick scraggly hair that was a dirty blonde colour and blue eyes that darted around the room as if he knew he shouldn't be there. He hesitated for a second at the door, then quickly scurried over to Tae, who pointed him in Kaoru's direction.

Kaoru put down her pen and waited. He fell into the seat opposite her, and Kaoru realised that he was actually healthier than she had originally thought, quite handsome actually, or he would be if he didn't look so afraid.

"You... You run this place?" he said, ducking his head conspiratorially.

"The Akabeko?" asked Kaoru, keeping calm and professional, hoping to soothe him.

"No, the... er..." He obviously couldn't remember the name in his panic. "Look, do you help people like me or not?" he asked, obviously hoping to get out as soon as possible.

"It depends what your problem is. I can certainly try. My name is Kaoru, I run the Dojo. What do you need help with?" she said, leading him through the facts like a kindergarten teacher. His scared eyes flicked around.

"Can't we go somewhere more private?" he said, frustrated.

"Of course, follow me." Kaoru led him to the back room used for meetings. It too had been done up, and was now quite impressive, with a large shiny table and a computer. Once the door was closed the man sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair, closing his eyes. The action gave Kaoru insight into what he must normally be like, and he seemed like a man she would like to get to know.

She took a chair and gestured for him to do the same. "So what's the problem?" she asked.

"It's my master," he said. "He's been acting a little off lately. Like he's not himself. I mean, most of the time he's fine, but sometimes he just... He doesn't remember stuff that happened yesterday, he doesn't treat us the same way, he doesn't seem to care about us at all. He goes out for hours and when he comes back he won't tell us where he's been. That's not like him, he always tells us everything. And when he snaps out of it, he can't remember anything, and he won't talk about it but I can see he's scared. I think someone is controlling him somehow... like possessing him, like a ghost. I know it sounds crazy, but we really need help from somebody. God, if he knew I was here he would kill me. It's the first time I've ever disobeyed him, he's a very private man."

The vampire seemed to be glad to get it off his chest. Kaoru got out a notepad and pen, ready to take details for her investigation, without any idea yet what could possibly be going on.

"Alright, calm down, and we'll start from the beginning. Can I offer you a drink first?" she said. The man frowned in confusion, too lost in his own trouble to understand the outside world. Kaoru summoned Tae and ordered for him, but he quickly held up his hand.

"Er, no thanks, that's not a good idea. I'm not really that old," he said. Kaoru understood, he was too new a vampire to have the control to be able to drink blood in small quantities from a glass. The order was cancelled and they were left alone again.

"So, what's your name?" asked Kaoru, pen at the ready. The man looked at her, scared again. He didn't want to give names. That made things a lot harder.

"Alright, I won't ask for names, but I need to know something to be able to help you," she said.

The man consented to give her the area in which they lived and the rough age of his master, along with his main contacts, of which there weren't very many. When he was finished, he asked,

"What do you think? Do you think maybe it's witches or something that are controlling him?"

"Honestly, witches can't do that. Nobody can control a vampire in the way that you're thinking, but I'll do my very best to find out what is going on. I do believe you, don't worry," answered Kaoru, standing up to bring the meeting to an end.

The man shook her hand, "Thank you," he said. "You see, it's not only me. There's also this girl, she's even younger than me. I couldn't take care of her if anything happened to my master. He's a good master. We need him," he finished. Kaoru's heart went out to him at the desperation in his eyes. He was obviously in love with this woman.

"I'll do my best," Kaoru said again.

Kaoru went back to her booth in the diner, thinking over what she had just heard. It was all very puzzling. She was sure that the master in question had to be being blackmailed or something, some everyday explanation for his behaviour. The idea that someone else was controlling him like a puppet was absurd at best, terrifying at worst.

Inevitably she thought of her own bond with Battousai. That would be the first thing she investigated, but from what she had heard, the master seemed to be in a different situation. Granted she had never tried, but she knew she could never _possess_ Battousai for hours at a time, and he would always remember everything he had done under her control. It could be of course that the master was lying when he said he couldn't remember. And he would have had to have been saved by his controller, and then surely the young vampire would have noticed his master's near-death.

The rest of her shift went fairly quietly, and she returned to the Dojo with a good layout of a plan in her mind. She would ask all the coven leaders, all the pack alphas, and any vampire that would talk if they had noticed anything strange, not giving away why she was asking of course, and go from there. If nothing turned up, she'd start asking about any vampires who'd recently escaped death. That was how her job got done most of the time, listening to the grapevine.

She'd also talk to the Dojo's resident witch about it. Since Tokio had married Saitoh, she had moved out to live with him, and had quit her job at the Dojo. To replace her, Kaoru had hired a young man named Nozomu Sasaki, or 'Oz,' courtesy of Sano. He had an easy-going, fun-loving personality and was generally a pleasure to have around. He always had his feet up and had something of the ruffian about him, though he was generally classier, as if he had been brought up with values he couldn't shake no matter how long he was on the streets.

Waiting for her in the lobby however was someone whom, while she had never actively disliked him, had been made more welcome by the events of three years ago. He never visited her for pleasure, only business, but she could still smile when she saw him. He puffed on a cigarette leisurely as she approached.

"There's no smoking in here, Saitoh," said Kaoru, knowing full well it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. Luckily for her, however, he had reached the end of his cigarette anyway, so he consented to stub it out with a twist of his fingertips and threw it in the bin.

"Kamiya," he greeted.

"Why didn't you come to the Akabeko?" she asked.

"Their new clientele clashes with the low profile I prefer to maintain," he answered.

"Okay, if you say so. Do you want to come up? Kenshin might be back by now if you want to say hi,"

Saitoh gave her a disparaging look that said the great Wolf of Mibu says hi to no man.

"I will not be staying long, we can talk here," he answered.

"Alright. How's the family?" Kaoru asked congenially.

"They're well. But I came to talk to you about something more pressing. What do you know about any strange occurrences in the city?" he said. Kaoru stilled, thinking about what she had just learned about at the Akabeko. If Saitoh was talking about the same thing, it meant she had greatly underestimated the scope of the problem. But she decided to play her cards close to her chest for now, wanting to find out what Saitoh knew before she gave anything away.

"Strange occurrences? You're going to have to be more specific than that, Saitoh," she answered.

"Strange behaviour, vampires in particular." Saitoh had noticed that she knew something. Kaoru cursed in her head, it was the same phenomenon.

"Why is it that you only ask me about things I have only just found about myself?" she asked, exasperated. "A young vampire sneaked away from his master to ask me for help tonight. He said his master was acting as if someone else was controlling him."

"Yes, that sounds similar to the reports I've been getting," Saitoh agreed.

"How did you find out about it?" Kaoru asked.

"Several alphas have noticed vampires acting unusually and came to me. They don't like it. They think the vampires are planning something, and are tightening their ranks accordingly. They came to me because of my part in the Bakumatsu. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Kaoru understood. After a hundred years of peace, tensions were appearing between werewolves and vampires. The two seemed to be natural enemies. If this continued, it would only take one tiny spark to enflame the whole thing. Kaoru understood why even Saitoh didn't want to say it aloud. There was a new Bakumatsu brewing.

The Dojo had been created to ensure this never happened. It was in Kaoru's job description to maintain the fragile peace of the underworld. This wasn't a feud between packs or vampire clans, this was a war between species. And now that it was actually happening, Kaoru was in way over her head. The actions she needed to take were clear, she need to assemble every alpha and every master in the city for a meeting that didn't result in bloodshed. She needed to investigate whatever was happening to the vampires and solve it quick. Another Bakumatsu sounded like Armageddon.

An understanding passed between the wolf and the shihandai in that lobby. Saitoh nodded and lit another cigarette.

"It might seem out of character for me to work to avoid a war, but the role of the Shinsengumi was always to keep peace in the city, and the Police are the same. Just call me when you're ready to move," he said, shaking out his match. He walked away.

"Tell Tokio I said hi! We should get together!" Kaoru called after him. The only reply she got was a cool lift of his hand over his shoulder as he raised his cigarette to his lips.

Kaoru returned to her apartment. The first thing she did was talk to Kenshin. He stayed calm and silent on the outside, but she knew the fear that he must have been feeling. It was a personal nightmare of his.

Next she got out her phone book and called every contact she had, telling them to keep a look out and report back to her, promising generous rewards. She called Sano, gave him the situation, and told him to get back out on the streets and sniff around. He had let his informant duties slide in the past year or two, but now Kaoru needed him to be a spy again. He agreed immediately, which only proved how serious the situation was.

She felt tired once she had contacted everyone, like the world had stopped supporting itself and was suddenly relying on her to do it. But the night was not over and there was still work to be done. She still had to go to see Oz, the witch, and ask for his help.

She knocked on the door of Tokio's old apartment and waited. It had been entirely redecorated since she left, and it hardly looked like the same room. There was no giant bird cage or ingredients growing in pots in the living room. Oz had an interesting style. He had very little furniture, but what was there was all ornate antiques that didn't seem to bear any connection to each other.

The young man opened the door. He looked to be in his early twenties, with black hair that couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to stick up or flop down, so it was always kind of a mess. He had expressionless brown eyes, which she usually saw through round black glasses. He dressed simply and like an athlete. A tight black vest hugged his neat yet muscular torso, while baggy blue tracksuit bottoms covered the rest of him. Up and down his arms he had various tattoos and bracelets, every single one with some magical property. One long earring dangled from his ear.

He smiled wide when he saw her, instantly becoming handsome, and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Kaoru! To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said good-naturedly.

"Business, I'm afraid, Oz. Bad business," answered Kaoru. Oz frowned with concern,

"I'm sorry to hear that, come in. How can I help?" he said, holding the door open for her. Kaoru started talking as she walked inside and was led to sit down in the living room.

"Strange things are happening to the vampires in the city, Oz. They're acting strangely, one person described it as if his master was being controlled by someone else," she said.

"Well, surely you know that's impossible, Kaoru?" answered Oz, paying close attention to what she said.

"Yeah, exactly, so I need you to find out what could really be going on. Talk to the covens, see what they think, that sort of thing. Maybe you already know of something?"

"No, nothing springs to mind. It could have nothing to do with magic, you understand. Perhaps whoever you spoke to was exaggerating, after all, there are so many normal, everyday reasons for a vampire to be acting strangely. Maybe he's just having difficulty with a rival, or something like that," suggested Oz, leaning back on the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"I've considered that, but it's been happening on too wide a scale. It's important we figure this out, the werewolves are starting to get uneasy. They're thinking of another Bakumatsu here," Kaoru said.

Oz took his feet off the table and sat up straight.

"A new Bakumatsu? That would be bad, I hadn't thought of that. Well, certainly I'll do my best, Kaoru," he said.

Kaoru stood up and they parted ways. Kaoru had confidence in Oz, he had worked well for her in the past couple of years. He didn't have Tokio's clairvoyance, but Kaoru knew he had many contacts in the supernatural world, and a vast library of knowledge. She was sure that if anything was going on, he would be able to find out what, if he put his mind to it. That being said, Kaoru still missed Tokio sometimes.

When she got back to her apartment, the phone was ringing. She unlocked the door hurriedly and answered it before the caller hung up. 

"Hello?"

"Kaoru." It was Megumi, her voice sounded strained. "The results from your blood work have come back. I think you need to come down to the infirmary."

oOo

"I understand why you came to me, Kenshin. This is worrying news indeed."

"I know, Shishou. If a new Bakumatsu comes to be, now that the Battousai is free..." Kenshin's fists tightened where they rested on his knees as he sat on the floor of Hiko's secluded cabin.

"You are right to be concerned, apprentice," replied Hiko, looking as arrogant as he always did. His white cloak pooled on the floor around him as it hung over his broad shoulders, and his black hair hung long and straight. "But you needn't worry. Now that you have come to me, everything will be taken care of. I will do you this favour and not let you ruin the life you have somehow managed to build for yourself. You know what a generous person I am, Kenshin," he said.

Kenshin scoffed inwardly but he knew better than to reply.

Since Hiko had moved to Tokyo three years ago, Kenshin had made a point of keeping in touch with him. He visisted his cabin on the same day every month, the way a human might vist their parents. Hiko could be insufferable at times, and Kenshin knew that he was indifferent about the visits, being a loner by nature and a complete hermit by habit, but Kenshin kept coming.

Taking his master's abuse had a bittersweet familiarity to it. It was perhaps the only nostalgic thing he did. Possibly because it was the only nostalgic thing he _could_ do. Hiko was the only link he had to his early life, more so even than Saitoh. Kenshin didn't know what he was hoping to achieve with these visits, maybe he just liked the feeling of obligation, that he actually _had_ a parent to be loyal to. Or maybe he just liked to remind himself that, although it was over two hundred years ago, he did have a childhood.

This visit, however, was one of emergency, breaking the pattern. Hearing that the world was on the brink of another Bakumatsu, he had panicked. He knew Battousai was forbidden to kill, and under Kaoru's control, but he also knew how bloodthirsty Battousai was, and how he would strain against that leash. All he could predict was trouble and death if a new Bakumatsu came about.

He had come to Hiko as the only person who might understand. He too had lived through both of the previous revolutions, and unlike Saitoh, he would not encourage Kenshin to fight.

"Thank you, Shishou," Kenshin said, bowing his head.

"I do not usually interfere in the varied workings of this world, but even I do not seek another Bakumatsu. So I assure you, Seijurou Hiko will not allow this peace to be broken!" he said dramatically.

Kenshin thanked him again, knowing that if Hiko chose to fight, he would achieve his goals. But Kenshin sincerely hoped that it would not come to that. Hiko would not have the cruelty of the Battousai, but he would be just as merciless. Countless lives would still be taken. But Kenshin had faith that Hiko would only fight as a last resort, being really too lazy to get so involved. It was of his capabilities to stop the war in other subtler ways that Kenshin was doubtful. As far as he knew, Hiko's only interactions with humans involved the transfer of blood, so Kenshin certainly couldn't trust to his master's congeniality to influence people.

But Kenshin felt better anyway. He had got his worries off his chest, and had procured Hiko's support, in whatever form it came. Yet he became aware of a cold, sick worry in his stomach, and felt that it was very important that he check on Kaoru.


	4. Blood Test Results

**Author's Note:** Okay, I think most of you have figured out what's wrong with Kaoru. And yes, unfortunately, this story does have many strong similarities to Twilight. That's not my fault, I've had this idea in my head for years. The fact is that they both follow the natural progression of a human/vampire relationship. They have a lot of differences too, I hope. Someone also said I should make the sex scenes more explicit - Well, there aren't going to be that many. Hardly any, in fact. Like... possibly none. The M rating is for the gore of Kenshin's nightmares, and the Battousai/Kaoru lemon in Chapter 1, which served the purpose of showing how their relationship has changed in the three years. The other couples are all established, so lemons serve no purpose for them, there's nothing to illustrate. But maybe I'll try to work some in at the end.

Chapter 4

Megumi's tone had scared Kaoru.

It told her that Kenshin was right, that something was in fact wrong with her. And by the sounds of it, it was something serious. But more than that, Megumi sounded _angry_.

She had sounded offended, or as if she was being forced to deal with something she didn't want to. And Kaoru couldn't understand why. She couldn't think of a single thing that could be making Megumi be so cold towards her.

Obviously, she'd gone straight to the infirmary after she'd got Megumi's call. The doctor had held the door open for her with her mouth set in a tight, unforgiving line, and had refused to meet Kaoru's eyes.

Was she dying? Was that what the thin folder in Megumi's hand said? Could it possibly be that bad? All that was wrong with her was that she felt a little sick when she got up. It couldn't possibly be that serious. It was something to do with blood pressure or glucose levels or something simple like that...

Megumi stiffly indicated that she should sit down on one of the beds, while she leant against the one parallel. The doctor took one last look at the folder and coolly tossed it down next to her, as if it didn't matter. Kaoru wondered if her fear showed on her face. She was holding her breath.

"How could you do this to Ken-san?" was the first thing that Megumi said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Kaoru's reply was a tiny mewl, she felt like a scared little girl.

"After being _sooo_ in love with him. This is going to kill him, I hope you know that. I can't even imagine what's going to happen. He's going to be destroyed. I never thought you could be this cruel, Kaoru," continued the older woman.

Kaoru felt like she had wandered onto a movie set and no one had given her the script. She had come here expecting a medical diagnosis, and instead she was getting this cryptic abuse. Was her illness somehow connected to Kenshin? Did she have some blood disease that he could contract from drinking her blood? She felt afraid now, that by refusing to see Megumi sooner, she had doomed her lover as well as her herself.

"I don't understand, what's wrong with me?" asked Kaoru, her voice still small. She wanted to defend herself, but she didn't know what she was being accused of.

"I think you know. You might be many things I never expected, but you're not stupid. This far along, you should know." Megumi shook her head at her.

"What are you talking about? What have I done? Am I sick or what?" Kaoru's voice was stronger now. This wasn't fair.

Megumi paused, and considered her.

"Alright, maybe you haven't figured it out. You wouldn't be the first. Well, here's a clue. When was the last time you had a period?"

Kaoru jerked up in shock, and blushed. "What?"

Megumi sighed in frustration. "Come on, Kaoru, for Christ's sake, drop the cute and innocent act."

Kaoru thought back. She couldn't remember.

"Well... I've been sick..." she murmured.

Megumi laughed coldly. "You haven't been missing your periods because you're sick, you're sick because you're missing your periods," she said.

This sunk in slowly through Kaoru's confusion. A strange idea was forming through the haze.

For Megumi, the pause was too long. "You're pregnant," she said. Then she leant back, crossing her arms aggressively. "I don't know what else to tell you."

Kaoru slowly realised she was shaking her head.

"No. You said that couldn't happen. You said Kenshin couldn't..."

"_Kenshin_ can't," bit Megumi.

"Then... How?" asked a still befuddled Kaoru.

"That's what I've been wondering myself. Or more precisely, who? Tell me Kaoru, is it anyone I know? Anyone Ken-san knows?" Her voice grew louder at the end with outrage.

Kaoru stared at her. Suddenly it was all so clear. This thing had happened, and Megumi had come to the conclusion that Kaoru had slept with somebody else. At first she was relieved, now she understood, she could deny it, reason with her. That was soon replaced by anger. How dare Megumi assume that about her?

Kaoru leapt to her feet. "I never cheated on Kenshin! How can you even think that?" she cried.

Megumi stayed cool and distant. "How else could this have happened?" she said.

"_You _were _wrong_!" she declared. Megumi seemed to hesitate, as if considering the possibility that Kenshin was the father. Her mind instantly dismissed that option, but Kaoru was so convinced of her innocence. In the face of Kaoru's outrage, Megumi couldn't maintain her suspicion.

Her voice took on a much softer, kinder tone. "Kaoru, it's not possible. Kenshin can't be the father. Can you of think of any blank spots in your memory? Any bits that you can't remember?" Megumi was thinking maybe Kaoru had been date-raped.

Kaoru seemed to calm down easily under the weight of her shock. She thought, but her mind was still too blown to think clearly.

"No..." she answered eventually, not fully comprehending what Megumi was asking her.

"Are you sure? It would have been about two months ago," Megumi asked again, putting her hand on Kaoru's shoulder and looking into her face.

"Two months?" Kaoru thought back for a moment but found nothing. Then suddenly it hit her. "I'm two months pregnant?" she asked, looking at Megumi. Her hands went down to rest on her still flat abdomen. There had been a little child growing inside her for two months and she hadn't even noticed?

Megumi nodded. She noticed the awed look come over her friend's face and sighed. She leant back. She would leave her alone for now. It was understandable if she didn't want to remember being raped. What was important in the moment was that pretty soon she'd have a little life to care for, and that right now she had a whole lot of trouble ahead of her. Poor Ken-san. He would have to find out eventually.

"Shall I give you a moment?" Megumi asked kindly, preparing to retreat. Kaoru snatched suddenly at her wrist.

"It _is_ Kenshin's child, Megumi, I'm sure of it," she said. She looked scared, but behind her eyes Megumi could see the rock-hard certainty that helped to make her such a good fighter. In the face of such conviction, a part of Megumi couldn't help but believe her.

She nodded, and Kaoru let her go. "Shall I call him for you?" she asked.

"Yes, please," answered Kaoru, her hands still resting on her stomach.

Kenshin had just got back to the apartment when Megumi called. She didn't tell him why, but just that Kaoru was in the infirmary and that they wanted to speak to him. He came without argument, the doors swinging open moments after she'd put the phone down.

Kenshin looked as scared as Kaoru had done. He immediately rushed to Kaoru's side and took her hand. Megumi cleared her throat for their attention before she left them alone. Kenshin's head whipped around, desperately looking to the doctor in the room for answers.

"I'll let Kaoru explain, but I would like to talk to you both before you leave," she said, and then excused herself, waiting outside in the corridor.

Kenshin turned back to Kaoru, his grip on her hand so tight it was almost painful, but Kaoru was too dazed to really register it.

"Kaoru, love, what is it? What's happening?" he asked, half-frantic with worry. He should have made her go to the doctor sooner. Now something was seriously wrong. He was going to lose her and he couldn't bear it.

Slowly, she turned to face him. She smiled, but it only scared him all the more because it made her look mad together with the vacant look in her eyes. She blinked and tried to shake herself out of it. She wrapped her free hand around his.

"Kenshin, I'm... Megumi says... Kenshin, I'm pregnant," she said at last. She felt his grip go slack and his face looked like it would fall off from the shock. His violet eyes swirled with a million emotions that were gone by the time Kaoru had just started to guess at what they were. Eventually, he pulled away ever so slightly and said,

"Con... congratu..." He couldn't quite bring himself to congratulate his love on something he naturally assumed was nothing to do with him.

Kaoru yanked him down hard, nearly pulling him off his feet in his dazed state.

"Kenshin, it's _your_ baby, _you're_ the father," she said. His hands spasmed between hers and life seemed to come back to him, but he didn't say anything for too long for Kaoru's liking.

"You're the father, you _are_, I need you to believe me. There's nobody else," she begged. Kenshin seemed to be considering it, almost believing it in the heat of her sincerity.

"But... how?" he said.

"We don't know, but it doesn't really matter, does it? Don't you believe me? Megumi thought it was someone else's, but it couldn't be, ever, you know that don't you?" Kaoru was still begging, she needed his assurance that he had no doubts about her. She didn't mind if no one else believed her, just as long as Kenshin knew that she had been, and always would be, faithful to him. "I love you," she said at last.

Kenshin looked deep into her fathomless sapphire eyes. "I love you too," he said at last. "I believe you."

Kaoru gave a sigh of relief and pulled him down to sit on the bed next to her. She snuggled under his arm and felt that everything was alright again.

"We're going to have a baby," she said, and for the first time that thought made her smile. She looked up at his face and saw that he was looking down at her with fear predominant in his eyes.

"We should talk to Megumi-san, that we should," he said. He slid off the bed and retrieved Megumi from the corridor. Kaoru grabbed him as soon as he returned and clung to his hand.

Megumi looked at both of them. "So, Kenshin, I don't suppose you have any ideas of how this came about?" she asked.

"No, I have no idea," he said, sounding so lost.

Megumi didn't want to ask if he believed the child was his, but it seemed important. If Kaoru had been impregnated without her knowledge, Kenshin might have noticed something with his vampire senses, the scent of another man or something. Megumi sighed. She had to ask. She didn't want to, but she had to.

"Ken-san, you didn't notice anything strange about two months ago?"

Kaoru's eyes narrowed. "He believes me, Megumi. He knows it's his child," she said firmly. Kaoru understood why Megumi couldn't accept what was meant to be scientifically impossible, but she thought she might believe her as a friend.

"Okay, Kaoru, okay. It's just that it would be a whole lot easier for everyone if it wasn't his child. God only knows _I_ wouldn't want to be pregnant with the first vampire baby in world history. I don't even know where to start with this," she said, looking daunted.

"What do you mean?" asked Kaoru. She was scared again.

"Well, first of all, we have no idea how this even happened! Thinking about it just now, the only theories I could come up with were that it's a result of the bond between you two, or that since Ken-san's been so well-fed lately maybe his body is starting to adjust and use the extra blood to restart some of his more human systems. Hell, it could just be that you guys have been having so much sex that his body considers that system necessary!"

The couple blushed at that.

"It could be a mix of all three! But all of these theories have problems, besides being far-fetched. You two have achieved the impossible, and while I could run tests, I'm not sure we'd get any answers, and they probably wouldn't be very pleasant. I'm not going to waste time satisfying scientific curiosity when we have bigger problems. What you've got in there is a vampire's baby, but what we need to figure out is whether or not it's a baby vampire, if you understand. If Ken-san's vampirism has affected his genetic material, I don't predict a healthy baby. And even if it has, who knows, humanity might be a dominant trait. What I'm trying to say here is we're flying blind. This has never been done before. Anything could happen."

"What do you mean you don't expect a healthy baby? How do you know that if it's never been done before?" Kaoru said, her maternal instinct irrationally defending her unborn child. Kenshin was remaining silent, listening as they talked of how he could have spawned a monstrous, inhuman child.

"Well, thinking about it logically," Megumi started again, part of her morbidly fascinated at the prospect of the first vampire baby. "A vampire's heart doesn't beat, so will your baby's? Will it need to? Maybe it'll only beat some of the time. A vampire doesn't breathe either, all the same questions apply. But these are things that will more or less sort themselves out. If it doesn't breathe it won't need to. What's more of a worry is that vampires don't grow. If you're baby doesn't grow, that's..." she trailed off, shaking her head, unable to predict the exact horror.

"But maybe it will. Vampires heal, that suggests living tissue of some sort, and your baby will be a vampire by birth, it may grow, and then stop when it reaches maturity. Vampires drink blood, will it?" Kaoru did not miss Megumi's tone, the poor thing inside her was becoming less and less human as this conversation went on.

"Will sunlight hurt it? Will it only be alive at night? There are so many questions, so many problems. We can't tell until the baby's born whether we've avoided them all or not, and by then it might be too late. There's no test for vampirism in a foetus, Kaoru."

Megumi looked at her seriously.

"There is also a personal risk to you. Who knows how your body might handle this pregnancy? This baby could very well be harmful to you, especially if it needs blood to survive. And I must warn you, if Ken-san's vampirism _has_ transferred, there's a high probability that the foetus will not survive. Nature has a way of taking care of these things itself. In animals, cross-species breeding does not succeed. We don't know just how close to human Ken-san's genetic code is. What I'm trying to say is, you could have a miscarriage."

Kaoru was silent and listening, absorbing Megumi's words like water, storing them to look at when she felt ready. The word 'miscarriage' hurt her, but she pushed it away for the moment. She didn't want the poor abused thing that nobody thought had a chance in the world to die.

Megumi sighed heavily.

"Which brings me to my next point. Now, before I say anything, I want you to understand that this is not a suggestion or a recommendation, it's just an option that I feel obliged as a doctor to bring to your attention. Given the likelihood of a miscarriage or a... an unhealthy child, you might want to... terminate the pregnancy."

"No," Kaoru answered immediately. She knew she would never harm their baby in any way, no matter what happened or how it turned out. She desired its life with a passion. "We'll take our chances," she said, looking to Kenshin to see his reaction. He seemed to be deeply touched by her decision, but it was like a reflection on the surface of a lake of anxiety for her own safety. It did not reassure Kaoru that Kenshin cared about the baby the way she did.

Megumi nodded, as if that was what she had expected.

"Alright. Well, now you know everything that _could_ happen, I guess it's time we found out what's _going_ to happen. You need to go to see a real OB/GYN, I don't have the proper training for this. Go as soon as possible, and I want you to go once a week, at least until the end of your first trimester. The biggest risk of miscarriage will be over by then. That's in a month."

"Until the baby's born no sushi or alcohol, and er, no biting either." She glanced uncomfortably at Kenshin. "We're also going to play it safe, okay Kaoru? Which means no kendo, no stress, and lots of bed rest. Kenshin, you make sure she does what she's told, now. I'll talk to Dr Gensai, and get his opinion on everything. But I suppose for now you want to get back to your apartment. You've had a lot to think about, I wouldn't be surprised if you two needed some time alone to talk things over."

Megumi smiled, dismissing them, and they got shakily to their feet. They leaned on each other as they walked back to their apartment in silence.

Kaoru's head was still spinning as she sat down on the couch, resting her head on the back and closing her eyes. How could she be pregnant? She was only twenty-four. She had already made up her mind that she was never going to be a mother years ago when she and Kenshin became serious. She had got used to that idea, told herself all the advantages, but now there was supposed to be a little clump of cells evolving in her stomach? It was ridiculous. She couldn't be pregnant. It had to be something else, the test had to be wrong.

At the same time, she knew she was. Kaoru knew it was stupid to pretend that she wasn't, she had to be serious and responsible about this because by the sound of things it wasn't going to be easy. God, pregnant, what did that even mean? In seven months she'd have a baby that would rely on her to keep it alive. That thought almost paralysed her with fear. She was panicking. Her stomach was going to swell as the baby grew, taking her over like some sort of alien. She wouldn't be able to do kendo. And she'd have to give birth!

She had to lean forward where she sat. Her breathing was coming too fast, she was hyperventilating. Why did she have to be pregnant? Why did she have to go through all the horrible, gross things that came with reproducing? Why did all the crazy, unprecedented, supernatural crap always happen to her? She'd never asked for this, she didn't want to be the first mother to a vampire child. Vampires were fine as they were, they didn't need to be having babies!

Why couldn't she just have an easy, normal relationship? It was complicated enough as it was, she didn't need this. She suddenly got the impression that she could feel the baby inside her, and it grossed her out and terrified her. This was like _Invasion of the Body-Snatchers_ or something! In her frenzy she wanted to tear it out, to kill it and make everything simple again.

Her breathing was fast and ragged, and she was rocking where she sat. She didn't see anything around her, so she jumped when she felt Kenshin's arm come around her shoulders.

"Calm down, Kaoru, it'll be alright," he murmured soothingly.

"How can you say that?" she almost shrieked, sounding hysterical. Kenshin had no answer, he just lay his hand on hers and try to give her his support. The touch of his cool skin calmed her down, and she pressed the back of his hand to her cheek, closing her eyes and taking a moment to regulate her breathing. She leant back against him and they reclined together on the sofa.

The only thing that seemed to work was telling herself that whatever will be, will be. She was pregnant and that was that. Panicking wouldn't help anything. She had solved many problems in her life - that was her job - so she could handle this. She just needed to keep rational, and keep calm, and take this one step at a time. The next step was to get an appointment with a specialist. She'd have to get up early for that, Kaoru didn't think they had night-shifts. God, even that was going to be complicated. The doctor wouldn't understand what they were dealing with. What if the baby had fangs or something? What would the doctor do then? What if the baby really didn't have a heartbeat? How would they know if it was still alive?

And that was another thing. As much as it scared her, she wanted this baby to live, to come into the world and grow, to smile and laugh and run and do whatever it wanted. She powerfully and actively desired its life, and yet she couldn't even trust her own body not to betray her. There were so many potential problems with this baby that Kaoru cared absolutely nothing about, she wanted it even if it was a monster, she knew she wouldn't care, but her body didn't care about how she felt. It only listened to the cruel laws of nature. At any moment it could take the decision away from her and wipe out an entire future. Kaoru became afraid of her own body and its instability.

She was going to have to tell the others. She knew what their reactions would be. Shock, disbelief, and suspicion. They would come to the same conclusion Megumi had, they would have to. As far as they knew, it was the only logical explanation. It would be a struggle to convince each and every one of them of the incredible reality, but she would do it. It would hurt her a lot, but even if she had to wait until the baby was born and have a test done, she would prove that Kenshin was the father. But telling them she was pregnant could wait, at least until she started to show. Kaoru didn't think she had the strength for it yet.

She knew she had Kenshin's support, and he said he believed her, but she could tell that was only because she had asked him to. She knew deep down he couldn't quite believe it, but he would pretend, he would be the father for her, because he loved her. Well, she would just need to convince him too.

And then there was Battousai. What would he think? He'd be appalled, she knew. Well, tough. It was his kid too, and while she didn't expect him to change any diapers, he was sure as hell going to have to be nice to the little thing when it came along. She was baby-proofing his katana and that was that. They were all going to have to make changes.

Kaoru was sure the baby was going to be adorable, between them. She wondered who it would take after most. Kaoru guessed it would at least have black hair, Kenshin's red was so rare, and black was dominant, wasn't it? Though if it had his eyes, that would be great. She would never be able to put it down. It would be able to wrap her round its little finger. Kaoru smiled. Boy or girl? She couldn't decide, they would both be so amazing. And what about the name? It would need its own room too. They might need to move to another apartment for more space. Wow, they were going to be busy.

Kaoru snuggled closer to Kenshin. He always made her feel safe. Kaoru bet he never thought he'd be a daddy. She knew he was scared, all the talk about what could go wrong would definitely have made him feel guilty, that was just his self-sacrificing nature, but she hoped he could feel happy as well. She did. When it was all said and done, she was looking forward to having his child, no matter what she had to go through to get it. She supposed a part of her remained from when she was a little girl who'd dreamed of true love and happy endings and a family of her own. So what if her prince was a vampire? He was the only prince she'd ever want. And so what if her castle was a secret government agency built underground that dealt with supernatural threats? It was home. And their couple would become a trio, when Baby completed the picture.

"Kenshin, what are you thinking?" she asked, looking up at his face. He put on his Rurouni mask, something he very rarely did anymore. She didn't like it, but it didn't really work anymore anyway, as she knew he only did it when he was feeling certain things.

Kenshin didn't want to tell her what he was thinking about. It was too dark.

"Nothing, Kaoru, why? What are you thinking about?" he answered, deflecting the attention away from himself.

"I'm thinking that I'm really happy to be having your baby. Are you happy?" she replied.

"I..." Kenshin hesitated, not having figured out his own feelings yet. "I'm worried about you," he said, summarising and censoring his real thoughts.

"You don't have to be. Anything that happens will be worth it. No matter what, I'm glad this happened to us," she said, trying to reassure him.

Kenshin kissed her hair in thanks. He believed her when she said she was glad to be carrying his child, but he couldn't feel the same way, not when it put her life in danger. The baby might be born a bloodthirsty monster, never to grow, an inhuman disaster. Or it might die in the womb, and cause her so much pain, both emotionally and physically. He used to feel guilty that he couldn't give her children like she deserved, but this was so much worse. Her only child would be a freak of nature, all because of his vampire blood. He never should have allowed this to happen. Once again, he was making her life unnecessarily hard for her.

The best he could do now was to be there for her, stand by her side against all odds. At first, he couldn't believe that he was the father, but now he knew it would hurt her too much if he continued to think like that. He owed it to her to believe her, even if his fatherhood was what made things so dangerous. He could almost forgive her for infidelity if it made the pregnancy safe for her. The way she needed him to be with her convinced him of her loyalty though. And yet, there was still a small part of him that told him it was impossible. It was hope and reason together, and he had to fight them both.

He would keep his own troubles away from her. He knew how she hated to see him worry and blame himself. He wasn't thinking about what it would be like to actually be a father, to have a baby to look after. He could only think about the next few months, when everything would go wrong if it was going to. His mission was to watch Kaoru like a hawk, and keep her alive. The baby came second. He thought about Megumi's orders. He would take his duty very seriously.

He looked down at the woman resting against his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist. She should be in bed. Without thinking about it, he lifted her in his arms.

"What? Kenshin!" she said in surprise, but she instantly moved her arms to his neck and allowed it. She had always loved being carried by him, and in her opinion, there wasn't occasion for it nearly often enough. He laid her gently on the bed and lay down next to her, folding the covers over her in the little one-sided cocoon that he wrapped her in sometimes. She needed her sleep, and there was no question of anything other than that happening that night.

Kaoru didn't mind. She wriggled and tossed until she was comfortable, then lay still, feeling him watching her until she fell asleep.

Kaoru woke up alone, and naturally assumed Battousai was the one that had come to life that night. Her heart sank. She had no idea how the Hitokiri would take the news of her pregnancy.

The front door opened and closed and she leapt out of bed. She found Battousai in the living room, and he didn't acknowledge her.

"Battousai?" began Kaoru cautiously. He didn't reply, just continued to move through the apartment.

"Are you upset?" she asked. She got in his way to force a confrontation and his amber eyes sparked angrily at her through his red bangs.

"You shouldn't be, you know I didn't get pregnant on purpose. You're as much to blame in this as I am," she continued. For someone with so little empathy, he could sure be moody sometimes. Why was he acting like his feelings were hurt?

He leant down slightly, pushing his face closer to hers.

"It is _not MY_ child," he snarled, with blood on his breath.

Ouch. Not him too. Did he believe she'd cheated on him? She'd always thought he'd torture her, or somebody, if she did, but he didn't seem to be on a warpath.

"Come on. You know you'd have been able to tell if I'd been with another man. And you know I never would, anyway. Don't you believe me when I say this is your child?" Kaoru tried to keep her cool while she tried to convince him of the truth. It wouldn't help anything if she got angry.

"It is not my child. Even if it is, by some magic, a vampire child, then it is the Rurouni's, _not_ mine," replied the Battousai.

Kaoru raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn't expected him to take the separation of the two personalities that far.

"You can't honestly believe that. You two share a body, you have the same genes!"

Battousai huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Is the son of one twin the son of the other, as well?" he stated simply.

"Are you joking?" answered Kaoru. She knew Battousai to be stubborn, but not stupid. She had no idea how to counter that idea. "You and the Rurouni are not twins! But, fine, whatever, in any case it's impossible to tell which of you was the one who actually, you know, got me pregnant." Kaoru thought she could win this way instead.

But the Hitokiri merely repeated, "It is the Rurouni's child." And with that he stalked past her into the bedroom.

Kaoru spun on her heel and shouted to the closed door, "Well, I hope Kenshin can talk some sense into you in that head of yours, because I'm sure as hell not going to waste my time with you!"

And then she slumped down on the couch in a huff of her own. It wasn't like she needed Battousai, Kenshin was there for her, and he would be an infinitely better father than his alter ego, but she wanted Battousai to be involved at least. To accept it. As it was, he was acting as if she _had_ cheated on him - with himself. He seemed to be pushing her away because something had happened that he couldn't deal with.

Well, he'd come around, eventually. He had to. If he didn't, Kaoru had lost him.


	5. The First Exam, That Fateful Spring

Chapter 5

Kaoru yawned as she sat in the waiting room. She would be the doctor's last patient for the day, if only because she couldn't bear to get up any earlier than this. Six thirty pm, what an ungodly hour. How did normal people manage?

Obviously, Kenshin couldn't be with her, and no one else knew. She didn't feel like bringing Megumi, she was feeling much too fragile and vulnerable for her friend's sharp tongue and opinions. She was also just a bit uncomfortable discussing her body's workings with her. Of course, she knew Megumi was a doctor, and she did want Megumi to be involved, because she appreciated that this wasn't any ordinary pregnancy, but the idea took some getting used to.

Her knee jiggled nervously and she checked her watch again. She was scared as hell. What would the doctor find? Was her baby okay? So far, Kaoru's own research revealed that at nine weeks old, her baby was starting to look a little human. That terrified the living daylights out of her. There was human being living inside her? Kaoru kept having these miniature panic attacks, and she had learned how to stop them from getting to her. She checked her watch again.

Her research had not helped to calm her worries at all though. All she had found out was what was different about her pregnancy. Apart from the mild nausea when confronted with food after just waking up, and missing a period or two, there were no other symptoms of pregnancy. Her breasts were not sore, she was not gaining weight, she was not hormonal, there was nothing. It was as if her body didn't know it was pregnant.

Finally, the door opened and she was invited into the examination room. The doctor was a small man that Kaoru felt no warmth for, but he stayed open the latest. He asked pretty standard questions, and Kaoru explained that this was her first pregnancy, that she'd only found out she was pregnant very recently, and that she was about nine weeks gone. The doctor nodded and smiled in a way that he obviously thought was comforting but actually gave the impression that he wasn't listening.

Kaoru also asked for a copy of everything to take to her GP, Megumi. The doctor frowned slightly but agreed because he had too. Kaoru was entitled to a second opinion by law, even if he didn't like it, which he obviously didn't. Kaoru didn't give a damn though. Her uterus and her baby were not his personal property. They were hers, to do with as she saw fit.

After their brief chat, they got on with the exam. Infuriatingly, the doctor was stubbornly determined to confirm she was pregnant. Was her presence there not enough? Had she not confirmed it herself? And he did it all in his smiley, condescending way. Kaoru didn't care about any personal discomfort or embarrassment, only about her child whose life was so uncertain. They did an ultrasound, and Kaoru stopped breathing entirely at the little black and white smudges on the screen.

"Hmm," murmured the doctor, making Kaoru's head snap in his direction, pinning him with a terrified glare. "Are you sure about the date of conception, Mrs Kamiya?"

Kaoru didn't correct him on the name. "What's wrong?" she cried. She wanted to grab him by the lapels of his white coat and shake him until his fillings rattled. He turned away from the screen and smiled inanely at her.

"Oh, nothing. The foetus is just a bit small, that's all," he said.

Kaoru wanted to scream at him; _Foetus? Who're you calling foetus? That's my beautiful child in there!_

Instead she stammered quietly, "I might be wrong."

Of course, she knew she wasn't wrong. This was just the first thing she would have to report back to Megumi. Her baby was too small for its age. Immediately her mind started churning. Why was her baby too small? Wasn't it growing? Was it ever going to grow? Was it dead?

The doctor hmm-ed again, this time smugly, as if he had been vindicated in something. But he seemed happier now, and pointed out the head and a limb of the child. Kaoru had to fight not to move and stroke the screen. Tears came to her eyes. The little fluctuations of the image made it seem as if the baby was moving. She felt the urge to talk to it, but kept her mouth shut. Instead she told it in her head,

_Hello, t__iny little thing, it's your mother. I'm going to make sure you come out of this perfect and happy, I promise._

Kaoru experienced her first feeling of being an actual mother and it blew her away. She almost wasn't scared anymore. Her determination and love for her child gave her super-strength.

She got pictures to show Kenshin, and duplicates of her new file for Megumi. Driving back to the Dojo, she was finally at liberty to rub her stomach and love the baby inside.

When she got home she had a few hours to kill before Kenshin woke up, but she found she couldn't settle to anything. She was too jazzed up, wrapped in a kind of warm glow. She dropped the paperwork off for Megumi, but that didn't take very long.

She thought about giving Yahiko a lesson but she couldn't find him. He must be at the Akabeko again. He was spending a lot of time there, with Tsubame. It was cute, but over the years they'd all got tired of teasing him about it. They were fifteen now. Kaoru wouldn't be surprised if he officially asked her out soon. Not that he'd ever tell her about it, she'd have to hear it through Tae.

All she could do was wait until Kenshin got up. She flittered about the apartment nervously. She even did the dishes! Then the bedroom door opened and Kenshin emerged, already looking concerned. He knew she had gone to the doctor's today.

"Kaoru?" he asked hesitantly, fearing bad news just as she had been.

"It's alright, Kenshin. The baby's a bit small, but that doesn't have to mean anything. There are pictures on the table," she said. They were still tentative, they couldn't afford to be reassured this early in the game when it could still all go wrong.

Kenshin moved warily to the table and picked up the black and white print-out. Kaoru went to stand beside him. She showed him where the head was and so on.

Kenshin didn't say anything but Kaoru understood.

"The wonders of modern technology, huh?" she said. Kenshin just kept staring at the photograph in his hand.

Up till now, he had been hoping the baby would live for Kaoru's sake. He hadn't actually fallen in love with it yet. But having the existence of his own child pushed under his nose this way...

He was overcome. He had a child. Kaoru was going to bear his child. He was going to be a father. In a few short years, he had gained a woman who loved him, and now a child. It was incredible, unbelievable. What had he done to be so blessed?

Now the baby had a solid, unshakeable hold on him as well. He slowly lay the photo down and turned to Kaoru. As he looked at her, a truly happy grin spread across his face. Kaoru saw his eyes sparkling. Now he too was happy they were having a baby.

Kenshin reacted suddenly. He laughed and grabbed her, spinning her around. Then he brought her down and hugged her tightly. He still had no words for it.

"We're going to have to think of names," laughed Kaoru, tears coming to her eyes.

Kenshin smiled, turning his face into her hair then moving to kiss her. A small, nihilistic part of him was saying that it was dangerous to be so happy, that it might be unfounded, but he couldn't let himself think that way in front of Kaoru.

He put his hands down to her stomach. There was nothing to feel yet, but he liked to know that his baby was there, just under his hand, oblivious to how happy it was making its parents.

oOo

The spring after they had mated had brought a big surprise for Saitoh and Tokio. They had only had a few of months to get used to each other and being a mated couple before instincts Saitoh hadn't even known he had kicked in.

They had both had to make changes. Saitoh had to accept having Tokio's products in the bathroom, her clothes in his wardrobe, and her food in his kitchen. These were things that every couple had to get used to. He also had to make room for her witchcraft, but that only came with a small amount of props.

Tokio had to adapt to being a bit wolfish. Her animal to call, her witch's familiar, had always been the raven, but she suddenly found she could no longer understand Aku, Soku and Zan, nor they her. She had had to release them into the wild, a hard thing to do after years of loyal and friendly service.

But soon enough, a real live wolf turned up outside their house, and Tokio found she had an affinity for it. Saitoh didn't really like animals, but he accepted it as the wolf immediately abased itself before him, and was only rarely there. It lived outside, and only came when Tokio called. Yes, being mated to Saitoh and having that fraction of his wolf spirit nestled inside her definitely affected her magic, and she'd had to re-teach herself a few things before she was back to what she had been.

But when the weather turned warmer and days grew longer, the couple experienced a strange phenomenon that neither of them had been prepared for. They both began feeling a strange need to have sex.

It started off so weak they barely noticed, but it grew and grew until it was quite a problem. This was more than just _wanting_ to have sex, more than desire or lust, this was a compulsion. And it wouldn't go away. Even immediately afterwards, they weren't satisfied, which is how they knew this was more than their usual physical attraction.

So rather than run himself into the ground and exhaust himself, Saitoh decided to do some research. He went to the alpha of another pack, a man he shared a respect with as men of similar character. The wolf chuckled slightly as soon as he saw Saitoh.

"I can tell what's bothering you, Saitoh-san," he said. Saitoh merely growled bad-temperedly.

The alpha was himself mated, though Saitoh hardly ever saw the woman. The alpha chuckled again.

"Being a lone wolf has its perks, but being without pack to guide you does not. I bet you weren't prepared for this, were you?" he said. Saitoh didn't answer, not liking to show weakness to anyone. The pair of them were smoking and slowly fogging up the room.

"When I heard the infamous Wolf of Mibu had taken a mate, I could hardly believe my ears. She must be quite a woman," said the alpha, the only man Saitoh would tolerate small talk from.

"She is," he agreed, not going any further than that.

"Well, Saitoh-san, I shall tell you what you are suffering from," said the alpha, a little arrogantly, looking at the cigarette between his fingers and smiling as he thought of his friend's situation. "You are in heat," he said. "You and your woman. It happens to us all, I'm afraid. Why do you think I have seven children? It's not because I like having my house filled with toys and diapers, let me tell you. I'd have more if my pack were any smaller. The smaller the pack, the worse the need to increase your numbers is, and since it is only the two of you in yours..."

He laughed again and shook his head in pity.

"I can't imagine how bad it must be. You are the alpha pair, and in the spring, all mated alpha blood-werewolves go into heat. It won't stop until the woman is with child. I pity you, my friend. You can try to outrun it, separate yourself from her until the summer. Other men have tried it. I'm not sure anyone has ever succeeded, though. It will be like torture, I assure you. You think it is bad now? It gets worse. So much worse, until you can't think of anything else, it will dominate your every living moment. Asleep, awake, it doesn't matter. You will want her more than you will want to breathe," said the alpha.

This was not good news. Saitoh had known nothing of this, but then, he had never had any reason to. It was true that when there had been other Shinsengumi, former alphas had been father to many children, but those were different times, without contraceptives. He hadn't thought anything of it.

"My advice to you is to get it over with. Pregnancy is guaranteed when the woman is in heat. Mate with her, and get some rest. It is inevitable. Even if you somehow manage to withstand it this year, there is always next year, and then it really will be intolerable. Why torture yourself? You're going to be a father, Saitoh-san, and a father to many,"

The alpha grinned. Saitoh thanked him for his time and went home. This was very bad.

They had already decided they didn't want children, not yet anyway. Maybe in a few decades. Tokio agreed with him, and was just as horrified when she heard what the alpha had told her husband. They agreed to try to last out, despite what the alpha had said. The Mibu Wolf was not so weak as to be mastered by primal urges. He could control himself. His power of will was like iron, after all.

So in an attempt to avoid what was happening to them, Saitoh started working later and later. He then started volunteering for business trips, the further away the better. He saw more of the world in those first few weeks than he ever had in his entire life, but he didn't really _see _anything. The alpha was right, it was starting to become very hard to think of anything other than Tokio. Whenever anyone tried to speak to him, he would only growl until they left him alone. But even scaring subordinates didn't make him feel any better.

Meanwhile, Tokio tried to involve herself in other things. She threw herself into her magic, she went on missions for her coven, she spent hours talking to them, but nothing helped. She was suffering too. It got to the point that she could hardly work any magic at all, so she just had to stay home, alone. She read every book in the house, she could practically recite the TV guide, but nothing could distract her.

Saitoh took three or four ice cold showers a day, while Tokio began eating chocolate by the pound. Saitoh chain-smoked through cartons of cigarettes from dawn until dusk, sucking in the thick fumes desperately, but that didn't help either.

Nights were the worst. Alone in the hotel, or in their bedroom back in Tokyo, there was nothing to distract them. Before falling asleep they could do nothing but toss and turn, trying not to feel the bed beneath them and imagine much better uses for it.

Then the second they fell asleep, the dreams would start. Their connection brought them together over any amount of space. In the dreams, they didn't waste any time. They couldn't help it, the urge was too strong. In the ethereal world of dreams, they made love all night, trying desperately to work out the frustrations of the day, but it didn't help. Nevertheless, they couldn't have stopped it if they'd wanted to.

It was true what the alpha had said, their every living moment was consumed with each other. Saitoh spent the entire day with his fantasies playing like a movie in his mind. He couldn't get any work done, he could barely focus on an object to see it, so for the first time in his career, he took sick leave. But he didn't go back to Tokyo, he stayed in his hotel.

Their telekinetic link began to intrude during the day as well. Whenever something triggered a strong memory or thought of the other, they would suddenly find themselves connected. For example, it happened when Tokio was lying miserable in bed with Saitoh's jacket in her hands, pressed to her nose.

"I miss you," she told him. That was the one thing that could lessen her engulfing lust, her heartache.

"I know, but be strong. There are only two weeks left," he answered. Hearing his voice made the sexual desire flare up violently and Saitoh frantically severed the connection, leaving Tokio to thrash wildly on the bed in frustration.

They could hardly remember the reason why they were doing this to themselves. All they knew was that they had to fight. In the face of this agony, having children didn't seem so bad, but neither of them wanted to appear weak by suggesting they give up. When every single thought was screaming for their mate, they were willing to do anything for relief.

Tokio felt like the nucleus of every cell in her body was gravitating towards Saitoh, as far away as he was. Saitoh, on the other hand, felt like he was straining against a force more powerful than gravity, like he was being physically pulled towards her. If left to wander, he infallibly found his feet taking him back to Tokyo. In wolf form, he would run across continents before he realised what he was doing. He took to locking his door against himself.

Day after day, hour after hour, they could only pace back and forth, pulling at their hair and growling, thousands of miles apart. It was a constant struggle. One weak moment, and all their hard work be for nothing. Saitoh couldn't even allow himself to consider going back because that small leniency was all his body needed to race back to _her_.

It got to the point when Tokio couldn't touch herself without automatically imagining that it was her husband doing it. Every time she pushed her hair behind her ear, or scratched an itch, she'd be overcome by another wave of yearning that made her knees buckle and brought tears to her eyes. She took to wearing rubber gloves all day. She was only suffering like this for Saitoh's sake, to help her mate.

Even the brush of her own hair on her shoulders became a problem. Everything was sensuous. Even vacuuming reminded her of sex. She couldn't take it, but she grit her teeth and forced herself.

It made showering and dressing very complicated. She played music as loud as she could, until the house shook, to block out the thoughts that assailed her. She tried to go through the habitual movements without thinking, as quickly as she could, but she could feel herself getting weaker. The urge to give in was too powerful.

An idea was playing in her mind. She knew it wouldn't help. If it didn't get her pregnant, it wouldn't help. But her mind kept telling her what harm could it do? It would give her just a moment's relief, to pretend that he was there with her, but that would be worth so much. And Saitoh wasn't here, nothing bad could happen. It wasn't really giving in.

In the end, the treacherous instincts talked her into it. She ran a bath without the deafening music. Her heart was fluttering like a bird in a cage in eager anticipation. She undressed and sunk into the hot water. She did her best to block Saitoh out, reinforcing the barriers on her side of the telekinetic link. She didn't want him to know how weak she was being.

She closed her eyes, months' worth of fantasies sprung to life, but she ignored them. She didn't need a storyline to this, she just wanted to feel. The water lapped against her skin, moving as she breathed. When she felt she was ready, she slowly raised her hand.

Tokio tentatively laid her fingertips against her neck. Tingles spread out over her hyper-sensitive skin. So far, so good. She brought them down, leaving trails of wetness behind them that stung in the cool air. She curled her arms around her waist, trying to imagine that they were as strong as Saitoh's, while remembering how powerful they always made her feel.

Then she peeled one arm away, running the back of her hand over her hip. They had both been living in a state of permanent arousal for weeks, more stimulation than this was not needed. She touched the apex of her thigh and moaned. Her breast was wet and slick and glided against her upper arm as she finally moved her hand over and within herself. The movement made the water of the bath sway in a different tide.

She was imagining that it was Saitoh's finger moving lovingly inside her, that he was the one who was going to relieve her suffering and put an end to the madness she was living in. She moaned again, almost sadly.

It did not take long. Her muscles gripped her fingers, and her thighs clenched around her wrist. Her abdomen fluttered. Her hand seemed to be moving independently, seeking out that release that she needed. For a second her thoughts scattered, and that was all it took.

She was suddenly plunged into a messy hotel room. She could almost see Saitoh looking up in surprise as he felt her presence. He too got an image of her, naked and glistening, floating in bubbles like a goddess of temptation. He could feel what she was doing, it hit him too.

"Tokio, don't -!" was all he had time to say. But it was too late. Her orgasm came and she cried out his name, her shoulders folding over the centre of her where the pleasure was flowing out from. She heard a growl being torn from him as it triggered a release in her distant mate as well.

She slumped against the bath and the old, ravishing desperation to be filled by her mate returned full force, crushing her. She sobbed loudly as she felt it. This torture was killing her.

Maybe it was his own lust, or maybe it was the realisation of the futility of what they were doing, or pain he was inflicting on his mate, but Saitoh suddenly changed his mind.

"Tokio, I'm coming," he told her. She got an impression of him transforming into his wolf form before he closed the connection. Tokio sobbed again in relief. She felt like the arrival of her messiah had been announced, like she was being led out of Egypt by Moses.

She quickly hauled herself out of the bath and prepared for his arrival. She threw on some loose clothes, not bothering with underwear. She raced around and did what little cleaning there was to do. She made the bed. She unlocked the front door.

The whole time she could feel him in the back of her mind, subconsciously tracking his progress across the world. It took him under two hours to run hundreds of miles. When he was getting close, Tokio could do nothing but hover in the hall, waiting for him, wringing her hands.

The door burst open, coming off its hinges as a huge black wolf drove through it. Half-way to her, her husband changed back into his human form. Before she barely had time to register it, his naked arms were around her. She wrapped hers around his neck instinctively, grasping him close as if they had been apart for years. Her clothes were shredded away from her before they even hit the wall. He drove himself inside her the very instant her back was supported.

Tokio screamed out with the completion, long and loud, shaking with dry sobs of relief. Saitoh thrust into her again, and again, desperately putting an end to their shared misery. It was only moments before they came, hard and fast, drawn out, with a shudder that shook their bones.

Tokio had come off the pill when Saitoh left, she was fertile again. Their torment was over. She would be pregnant.

Saitoh had bitten her shoulder as he came, a habit of his. In human form his teeth weren't sharp enough to break the skin, though he had the strength to break bones. The bite would be sore, but she would heal it fast. He let her go, kissing her violently and deep. He kept himself inside her and her body pressed hard against the wall.

The relentless drive to mate seeped away like a villain in the night, but the memory of it was still very much intact. They needed now to erase it, to reacquaint themselves with each other. The distance they had put between them had affected them.

Saitoh started to move again and Tokio moaned. His thrusts were slightly slower this time, and it lasted longer, though the force of it did knock some frames from the walls. Only after they came for the second time did Saitoh withdraw from her, allowing her to stand on her own, though her knees felt like jelly.

Saitoh kissed her again, long and deep. He was glad to have her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, showing him how much she had missed him. Only after ten minutes did they break apart and speak.

"Welcome back," murmured Tokio.

"We lost," he replied.

"Yes, but it wasn't worth the fight," she answered him.

"But now what have we got?" he said, making it obvious what he was talking about.

"A little you, that's not so bad," she argued. Saitoh looked unconvinced. "You don't regret it do you? It was inevitable, we couldn't have avoided it forever. Or do you wish we hadn't mated in the first place?" she said without anger, blunt practicality being a part of her personality.

"You know me better than that," he chastised. "But what are we going to do with it now that we have it?"

Tokio smiled, "We have nine months to get ready for this," she said.

Saitoh just kissed her again. He wanted to have her as much as he could before she got properly pregnant, and the fire was returning to him. It would take the entire weekend and some of Monday before they felt normal again.

Saitoh took them to the bedroom, which they didn't leave for a long time. They would make love over and over, sleep for a couple of hours, and start again. Whenever one of them tried to take a shower, the other would soon join them. They only branched out when they got too hungry to continue, which only led to the kitchen seeing its fair share of the action.

By Monday afternoon the house was trashed. Shreds of clothing lay everywhere, the floor was scattered with upturned furniture and broken frames, and of course the front door hadn't been fixed. The bed also had been damaged, with scratches, tears and dents all over. The bathroom floor was littered with products that had been knocked over and ignored.

Saitoh just chuckled to himself as he and Tokio finally took the time to survey the damage. He pulled out and lit his first cigarette since he had got back. He was feeling just like his old self again. He was dressed in his police uniform, clean and civilised once more, ready to go back to work. It was as if the horrible experience of being driven by his very soul to impregnate his wife had never happened. All except that the musky, sweaty smell of sex was still all over the house. He was able to ignore it, however, for the first time all weekend.

Tokio was looking around, appalled, with her hands on her hips. She knew she would be the one to clean it up. She was pretty sore from the weekend, but she felt like she had never been happier. The sun had come out after months of only dark storm clouds. So she was pregnant. She'd give it a few weeks before she got serious about it.

"Well, Tokio, good luck," he said, amused.

"Yeah, thanks," she said sarcastically, though she didn't resent him for all the damage she was going to have to put right.

Saitoh turned to leave, but as he did so, he was suddenly struck by an unwillingness to leave his mate. It was only an adverse reaction from forcing himself away from her for so long, he knew it would fade, but still he went back and gave her a goodbye kiss. She kissed him back until there was the danger that they would end up in the bedroom again, or elsewhere, creating more damage.

He chuckled and pulled away from her. "I shall see you this evening," he promised. Tokio just grumbled.

And that was how Saitoh Hajime, the infamous Wolf of Mibu, became a family man. Nine months later, Tokio gave birth to their first child. A son, who was named Okita after the first captain of the Shinsengumi, one of the few men Saitoh considered a friend.

Saitoh quit smoking for the pregnancy, as did Tokio. They found this easier than most people due to their werewolf healing abilities. And afterwards, they never smoked around the baby, though it wouldn't make much difference as the child was guaranteed to become a werewolf when its body was old enough to withstand the changes anyway.

The boy was obviously going to develop his father's narrow features, though for now they were still hidden under a layer of baby fat, and he had his mother's redwood eyes.

To their relief, they did not go into heat every spring, in fact they haven't done so again in the three years since the first time. It seems while Okita is young and requires a lot of care and attention, the heat will wait.

As it turned out, Saitoh didn't mind being a father too much. Okita was very well behaved, and Tokio took care of the dirty work. Saitoh was mainly concerned with teaching him the Shinsengumi values, which he took to like a duck to water. Anything to please his father, who was obviously his hero.


	6. The Vampire Ball

Chapter 6

Aoshi was tense, to say the least.

He paced back and forth outside the door to Okon's bedroom, wound tight like a spring. The sick, gnawing feeling in his stomach had turned acidic in the past few days as the ball of the Vampire Court drew closer. Tonight was the night. He'd made as many preparations as he could. Everybody knew what they were doing, where they were supposed to be, and what their priorities were, but he still didn't feel secure. Where Misao was concerned, Fort Knox wasn't safe enough, and he was leading her into a den of bloodthirsty vampires.

He couldn't take it. He walked in without knocking. Okon was making some final adjustments to Misao's dress while she stood in front of the mirror. Misao spun to face him with a rustle of fabric.

"Aoshi-sama, I look like a doll!" she whined. It was true. The dress she wore was styled like a 19th century court dress. It had a hooped skirt and a tight bodice. Misao's neck and shoulders were bare. It was black, with flashes of red exposed by the folds of the skirts and the lacing of the bodice. Her long hair was twisted and twirled into a complicated bun, the first time Aoshi had ever seen it completely off her face. Needless to say, he was stunned.

The rest of the Oniwabanshuu were wearing new, formal uniforms, also in black, but made out of fancier material than usual. Misao thought Aoshi looked good enough to eat in his.

"Good. You're safer that way," replied Aoshi. They had been over the design of the dress in obsessive detail. Aoshi wanted Misao to look like a pet, delicious and cute, while looking so vulnerable that no one would believe she wasn't fiercely protected.

Misao just huffed and turned back to the mirror, her skirts swishing beautifully. Aoshi forced his eyes away from her to Okon.

"The weapons?" he asked.

"She has three daggers in her skirt, thirty kunai throughout the dress, six darts in her bodice and hair, and garrotting wire as the trim, all silver," said Okon, pointing to all the items as she went through the list. "She's good to go. Any more than that and I don't think she be able to walk,"

"I don't think I'll be able to walk anyway," complained Misao, having never worn a dress in her life without tearing it off within minutes. Okina had stopped trying when she was three. Misao's hands kept moving over the strange stiff bodice that encased her stomach, it felt so odd.

"I can hardly breathe in this thing," she said. After several sessions, she was able to manage, but when she'd first been forced into it, she'd hyperventilated and passed out. The vampires didn't seem to fully appreciate her need for oxygen.

Aoshi did however note that the bodice was so tight that Misao's small breasts were pushed up into a modest cleavage. Again he had to force his eyes away. Perhaps the design of the dress was too successful.

"Can't we do anything about those earrings?" he said to Okon. Misao was wearing long, elaborate earrings to draw attention to her neck, they had been chosen in favour of a necklace as the Okashira wanted her neck bare to add to the temptation. The theory was that the more tempting Misao was, the more any other vampire would assume she was off limits. If Aoshi showed her off, then he obviously took pride in her, and would be possessive of her.

"I'm sorry, you asked me to -"

"I know what I asked you!" Aoshi snapped. He took a breath to calm himself. "Do they have to be red?" he asked. The colour had been chosen to suggest blood, but Aoshi was starting to change his mind. He wondered if it was too late to just wrap her up in a poncho or something.

He knew the more they impressed the Court, the safer they'd be, and turning up with a beautiful human basically on a plate was a bold move, something he knew they'd appreciate. But he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Okon looked at the earrings in the mirror. "Well, I could try to find some black ones, but I don't think..."

"It's alright, Okon, thank you. I would like to talk to Misao alone," he said. Okon dipped her head and left the room, closing the door behind her. For a moment, he just stayed where he was, watching Misao's reflection from behind her. As always, his face gave nothing away, and Misao grew a bit unsettled at the tall, dark, shadow behind her.

"So, do you like the dress, Aoshi-sama?" she asked nervously. There was a pause before life seemed to return to him. He moved slowly forward towards her, seeming almost to stalk her as an animal stalks its prey.

"If," he said slowly, "It were just for me, and if we were alone, then yes, I would like the dress. I would like it very much." Every word was slow and deliberate. His voice gave Misao shivers. "But, since you are being sent to my enemies, looking the way you do," His voice dropped lower, until it carried a note of a purr, or a growl. He came to rest behind her, bending his mouth to her ear. "I hate it."

Misao reminded herself to breath, as hard as it was. "I'm sorry to hear that," she replied. She turned to face him, and found herself having to crane her neck up to look at him. She was also wearing high heels for the first time, though admittedly they weren't very high.

Aoshi drew one hand from behind his back and brought it up to her face, brushing the small tendrils of hair that had escaped from the bun, none of them accidental of course. The earrings, they were clip-ons, tinkled and swayed as his hand caressed them next. Finally, one of his long fingers stroked, feather-light, along her jaw, the others tickling her neck. Aoshi followed their progress with his eyes, ending at her lips.

"I'm wearing make-up," she breathed without thinking, desperate to break the sexual tension. For while Aoshi was definitely seducing her, his eyes looked sad. As soon as she spoke however, they flashed to meet her own eyes, crystal blue on aqua-marine.

"We mustn't ruin it then," replied her Okashira quietly, and he leaned down to kiss her. His lips brushed hers so gently Misao was sure the lipstick hardly felt it. She was frozen in place, he had the power to do that to her, but inside her libido was tearing its hair out and screaming at her to jump him.

He drew away ever so slightly and moved to her ear. "Remember me tonight, Misao," he whispered. Misao thought that it would be impossible to do otherwise. She'd be thinking about him like this all night now.

He stood up straight again and she recovered enough to say, "Shall I keep the dress then?"

Aoshi smiled, or at least as much as he ever did. "I think so," he replied. Then his expression darkened and he added, "Though it may hold bad memories after tonight."

"We can make more memories," suggested Misao hopefully. Aoshi didn't smile again.

"Yes, perhaps," he said. He took her shoulder and led her out of the room. "It's time to go."

The Oniwabanshuu had only arrived in Tokyo the night before, so they hadn't had a chance to visit the Dojo yet, but Misao had plans to call Kaoru the next night. Aoshi just hoped they'd live that long.

Not every Oniwabanshuu member was going. With Misao to protect, Aoshi considered his hands full. He only trusted Shikijou, Beshimi, Hyottoko and Hannya completely enough to be able to look after themselves. Not only were they the strongest and most skilled, but they were also the oldest, older even than Aoshi himself. They had met the Vampire Court before.

They all drove in one car, one of the many black, shiny ones the Oniwabanshuu owned. The rule for tonight was to stay together. Misao sat next to Aoshi in the front. This was unusual, as it disrespected rank, but none of the others cared about that tonight. Their Okashira's girlfriend was a special priority tonight. Aoshi spent the whole trip telling Misao what and what not to do.

"You do _not_ leave my side, understand? Not for anything," he commanded. Misao would have rolled her eyes if it wasn't so serious. She'd heard this many times before.

"You do not speak unless in answer to a direct question, and even then, keep it simple and short," he continued. "You are meant to be my pet tonight. I don't like it, but that is what they expect. You must act accordingly. You must pretend to be infatuated with me,"

"Who's pretending?" interrupted Misao, trying to lighten the mood a little, but Aoshi frowned.

"Misao, no jokes tonight. You must try not to be too much like yourself, or they will never believe that you have a will weak enough to become vampire's slave. They will expect that I feed from you, don't argue. Just follow my lead, agree with whatever I say. Don't react to anything they say to you or show you, it is likely you will see some things that I wish you didn't have to. They might try to test you, scare you somehow. I trust you to be able to handle that. Don't take anything they give you,"

The list went on. Misao was starting to get very nervous herself now. These people had been so built up that Misao expected real monsters. She knew how bad it could be if things went wrong tonight. The entire Oniwabanshuu could be exterminated. And she was the biggest risk to their safety.

"Hannya, I want you to stay unnoticed. Watch Misao. She is your top priority tonight, not me. I can take care of myself. That goes for all of you," said Aoshi.

The ninjas looked at each other. Guarding their Okashira had been their top priority for hundreds of years. They loved Misao, but they respected their duty too much. If Aoshi was blinded by love, it was up to them to make sure he survived. Normally, they would never dream of disobeying one of his commands, but now they were torn between their loyalty and their obedience.

Aoshi caught their hesitation in the rear-view mirror. "That's an order," he said, his voice as hard as diamond, unquestionable. Finally, Beshimi shrugged to the others, and they faced forward again, silently consenting to protect Misao before him. They hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

They had driven through the city and were now in some woods. All light had gone, and Misao couldn't see a thing. Eventually though, she could gradually see light flickering through the trees. It glowed on the horizon and grew until they arrived at some huge cast iron gates, which swung open for them apparently by themselves. It gave Misao the creeps, because it meant somebody had to be watching.

They pulled up in front of a huge mansion. It was all lit up by gold floodlights. It looked unreal.

"Wait outside," spoke the Okashira. The four ninjas in the back got out without question. Misao stayed because of the touch of Aoshi's hand on hers. She looked at him in puzzlement. He was staring out of the opposite window, deep in thought and obviously unhappy.

"Aoshi-sama?" she said quietly. Aoshi turned to her.

"Misao, I want you to take everything I've said tonight very seriously," he said. He was keeping his voice low, as if he didn't want to be overheard.

"I will, Aoshi-sama, don't worry, nothing will go wrong. I'll be exactly the way you want," said Misao hurriedly, trying to reassure him and restore his confidence.

"I want you to take it seriously, but if things somehow go wrong, if you find yourself away from me, or if you feel threatened at all, promise me you won't hesitate to defend yourself. Do whatever it takes to get out of there," he said, pinning her down with his eyes that were still beautiful, and still scared.

"I will, Aoshi-sama," Misao replied automatically, not having any other choice under those eyes.

Aoshi nodded and sighed. "Let's go," he said, and they got out of the car.

Misao was instantly hit by the sound of music and laughter. She was surprised, she had expected an eerie silence. As they walked up the marble steps to the open front door, Misao thought it seemed like any other party, albeit a few centuries out of date. The music was some upbeat classical piece played live by what sounded like a small orchestra, and from the few people she could see, her old-fashioned dress wouldn't be raising any eyebrows.

The colour code seemed to be white and gold, from the building to the decor to the waiters, vampires walking around with champagne glasses of blood. One of them passed them as they walked into the ballroom. The Oniwabanshuu with their black uniforms looked like crows wandering into the exotic bird enclosure. They were all on high-alert. Every single thing they did now mattered. The performance had started.

They walked in formation. Aoshi first, in the centre, leading them. On his right, Hannya, and on his left, Shikijou. Behind them, Hyottoko and Beshimi. Misao was between and slightly behind Hannya and Aoshi. The others were in order of rank, but Misao got special privileges as the leader's supposed favourite, his pet. She was an object of interest for the enemy and they knew it, there was no sense trying to hide her. And as they were, she was in as safe a position as she could be, covered on all sides.

Misao fought the urge to take Aoshi's hand - she could tell he would benefit from it as much as she would, but it would be a show of weakness. Instead, all she could do was play her part perfectly. She put on a vacant, ditzy expression and a polite smile, looking around as if she didn't really know what was going on.

Almost immediately, a vampire approached them. Misao guessed he was one of the Court as his outfit matched the decor - pure white silk with a lot of gold stitching and a gold waistcoat. He had black hair that was just long enough to curl against his collar, and wasn't Japanese, though he spoke it fluently enough.

"Okashira!" he said, as if he was pleasantly surprised to find them there. Aoshi bowed to him, something Misao had never seen.

"You came after all! You know, there was some doubt. How long has it been? Nigh a hundred years, I'd say. How time passes! It seems like only yesterday that you were being introduced to us as the new Okashira, still just a cut-fang. But you earned it!" he said.

Aoshi looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon whole, but it was probably only visible to the Oniwabanshuu's experienced eyes. He was obviously riled at being referred to as a 'cut-fang,' a vampire expression for a young vampire, like 'greenhorn' or 'tenderfoot.' He had to be diplomatic, however. He inclined his head and spoke.

"Thank you, Malvolio. I take my position very seriously. I am sorry to hear there was any doubt about our appearance tonight, after all, how could we refuse?" he said.

It was just small talk, but almost every word had significance. By calling the vampire by his name, he was assuming a similar position, and by referring to his status as Okashira, he was warning the other that he was prepared to defend his clan, even against the Court. But he also recognized the Court's power by acknowledging that he couldn't have refused the invitation. He offended and complimented as he spoke.

The vampire smiled, and his eyes turned to Misao, who had obviously had his attention the moment they walked in the door. He would have known perfectly well who she was, but that didn't stop the facade.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand for her and looking back at Aoshi. "And who is this lovely young lady?" His compliment was sarcastic. He had no respect for humans at all, Misao could tell. They were just food to him. Misao might as well have been a cow in a dress on Aoshi's arm, for all the sense it would have made to this man. She could see hunger stirring in his eyes as he looked at her.

"This is Misao Makimachi," answered Aoshi stiffly. Misao could feel his suffering as the vampire took her hand and pulled her before him, which only made her more determined to impress him. She curtsied, and the vampire started back in surprise, having expected a bow. He smiled wide, exposing his fangs, and again spoke to Aoshi,

"A clever one!" he said, then he turned back to Misao. "I suppose you noticed I am not Japanese. Where would you guess I am from?" he said.

"I would guess, perhaps Italy?" she replied.

"Correct again! Clever indeed. I suppose you noticed your master call me by my name." Misao grit her teeth at having Aoshi called her master. "Tell me Misao, have you ever been to Italy?" he asked. He was patronizing her, and he had not let go of her hand, his thumb was pressing against her wrist in an uncomfortably familiar way.

"No, I have not," she said, looking regretful.

"Ah, it is a beautiful country. I should like to return there one day. Perhaps, who knows, you will accompany me," he said, and his eyes watched her carefully for some sign of insubordination. Misao managed to smile faintly, and swallow her creeping fear of this man.

"Misao is committed to the Oniwabanshuu," spoke Aoshi firmly at her side. Malvolio looked at him, trying to find enough of a challenge to act, but failing. Aoshi's cold stoicism was preventing it. He looked back at Misao and faked a gasp.

"But I see no bites here!" he said in astonishment, taking her other hand too and turning the wrists up to look at. Misao felt trapped, and tried to subtly draw her hand away, but his grip tightened suddenly and hurt her. "Not a single mark mars your pretty skin," he said.

Misao inclined her head, acknowledging the compliment the way Aoshi had done, and said from under her eyelashes, "Not anywhere that you can see... My lord."

He seemed appeased by the honorific, and slowly let her hands slip from his, smiling. The problem was, the smile was real, and Misao felt the real danger of having done something to make him happy.

"I see. Aoshi is a lucky man." He turned away from them and made a sign in the air. "Perhaps Misao would be happier with her own kind," he said, threateningly, as he turned back to them.

A woman soon appeared near them. She looked like Marie-Antoinette, except without the white wig. Instead, her own dark gold hair fell around her shoulders in loose curls. She was beautiful, but she looked sadistic. But that could have been because of who she had next to her.

In her hands she played with the end of a gold chain, which was attached to a diamond studded collar. It was a leash, and on the end of it was a human. He was tall, though not as tall as Aoshi, but he looked tiny because of how he cowered. His brown hair was dirty and messy, and he looked pale and unwell. His ribs stuck out worryingly, but he was grinning like a kid, and Misao realized he could only be in his teens.

The rest of his outfit was equally disturbing. He was barefoot, and the only clothes he had were white leather trousers with the crotch cut out, and as far as she could tell, a thong. A diamond studded belt and wristbands matched his collar. Under the dirt, he had several ugly vampire bites all over his body. Misao's stomach turned as she looked at the boy with pity.

The woman looked bored.

"What is it, Malvolio?" she said. She even had a beautiful voice, with a faint English accent that only added to her attraction.

"I thought the Okashira from Kyoto's pet might like some company," he said simply. He was up to something, Misao knew, but she could hardly take her eyes off the boy, who was smiling back at her as if they both shared a lucky secret.

The woman's eyes fixed on Aoshi.

"Aoshi! I was hoping I would see you here tonight. I still haven't given up on you, you know," she said, stepping closer to him.

"Hello, Tabitha," replied Aoshi neutrally. The woman sighed.

"Still just as cold as ever I see. When are you going to start enjoying yourself?" she said, cocking her head to the side. The bitch was flirting with him. Misao was horrified, she had never known of any other women in Aoshi's life, and this one was from before she was even born. Her only consolation was that Aoshi seemed less than uninterested.

"I enjoy my current position," he answered. Tabitha huffed.

"How sad," she said.

Malvolio had let them catch up, but he had his own agenda to get back to. "Why don't you introduce your pet to Misao?" he said casually. The woman turned to look at Misao, came to the conclusion that she was preferred by Aoshi, and instantly disliked her.

"If I must," she said, contemptuously, with her nose in the air. She looked at Misao as if she was a dirty thing, which Misao found hypocritical given the state of her own companion. Tabitha jerked on the chain, "Go on then," she snapped harshly. She was ugly now.

Instantly the boy came forward, talking eagerly to Misao as if he had just been waiting for his mistress's permission to speak.

"Hi," he said. He had something of a high voice.

"Hello," she replied. She was shaken. Inside she was dying to help the boy, get him away from these people, get him out of the vampire's clutches, but she knew she couldn't say anything against their hosts, or his position, as it was a position she was supposed to enjoy herself.

"How long have you been a pet?" he asked, saying the word as if it was a privilege and an achievement. He could have been asking 'When did you get into Harvard?'

"Not long," she answered vaguely, staring at him. She noticed Malvolio watching them carefully and she realized she needed to make this more convincing. "Since last year," she added calmly.

"Yeah, Tabitha only took me a couple of months ago, but I've always had a thing for vampires," He looked up adoringly at his mistress, who was ignoring him and continuing to flirt with Aoshi, who stood stiff as a board.

_Christ,_ thought Misao,_ two months and she's already done that much damage?_

"But you don't look bitten anywhere..." continued the boy, frowning slightly as his eyes ran over her bare neck and arms.

Malvolio interrupted, "Dear Misao has already explained, Aoshi prefers to taste her _under_ her clothes," he said, and Misao's skin crawled. She instantly regretted not having come up with a better lie.

But the boy nodded and smiled, "Oh yeah, I get that too," he said, and he cocked his leg to show her another twisted, bloody bite on the inside of his thigh.

Aoshi had never bitten her. She didn't particularly see the point, and he was repulsed by the idea of doing that to her. She knew vampires had endorphins in their bites, but could it really reduce a human to that? A slave on the end of a chain who thought he was the luckiest kid alive? Misao hoped she didn't look as green as she felt.

Suddenly the boy's chain was yanked. The woman was leaving.

"Our Okashira has much to offer, but he is hard to understand," said Malvolio. "Perhaps a man-eater such as yourself will have better luck elsewhere," and he chuckled at his own joke.

"You can talk, Malvolio," she said smoothly in reply to his name-calling.

"Goodbye, Misao. It was nice talking to you," said the boy as he was dragged away. They all watched the woman melt into the crowd.

Malvolio turned to them. "I will leave you as well, for now," he said. Misao did not miss the smile he gave her as he spoke for her, before turning away. That smile was a lecherous promise of danger to come.

She looked worriedly up at her Okashira, who couldn't afford to comfort her in case anyone was watching.


	7. They Seal Their Fate

Chapter 7

The rest of the night passed in a similar vein. Vampires would approach Aoshi, be introduced to Misao, and wander off again. None of them took as much of an interest in Misao as Malvolio had. Hannya disappeared, following his orders to watch them from afar, unnoticed. Beshimi, Hyottoko and Shikijou got some funny looks but were generally ignored. They didn't match the other guests by being beautiful or extravagantly dressed, nor were they of high enough rank to be worth talking to.

Eventually, Misao began to relax. She had her act down pat, she knew exactly what to say, and it was just impossible to maintain that level of anxiety for long. She began to wonder who else was there, apart from the Vampire Court, and Aoshi pointed a few acquaintances out whenever he felt it was safe. He seemed to recognize a few old friends amongst the crowd, but they knew they couldn't rely on anyone else's help if things got ugly. Most of the huge ballroom was taken up by dancing, though there were still plenty of people who preferred to loiter, getting served by the waiters. Aoshi was offered a flute of blood several times throughout the night, but he declined, no doubt finding it bad taste.

Eventually, she had to ask.

"Aoshi-sama, who's Tabitha?" she asked quietly. There was a long pause before he answered, continuing to scan the room, and choosing his words carefully.

"Tabitha is an evil woman who took a liking to me when I was first presented to the Court. It was not reciprocated and that annoyed her," he spoke quickly and quietly as if worried about being overheard. Misao was satisfied though, and she risked gently squeezing his arm. She had felt she had gone too long without physical contact with him, though it had only been a few hours.

Then, an hour or two after meeting him for the first time, Malvolio returned. His eyes were glinting with a plan now.

"Aoshi, you're not dancing, I'm surprised at you. I wouldn't have thought you would disappoint a lady," he said, eyeing Misao up. His voice was like golden syrup that had gone off.

"Misao does not dance," replied Aoshi firmly.

"What a perfect opportunity to teach her," pressed Malvolio.

"I have flat feet," interjected Misao, trying not to glare at the vampire as she smiled apologetically. The sudden threat of whatever he had planning made her forget herself and speak out of turn.

"Nonsense," he replied, his eyes sparkling with the scent of prey. "You wouldn't be wearing those high heeled shoes if you had," he concluded. He knew he had won.

The intention was clear, this was a plan that would endanger Misao. No one was pretending anymore. Aoshi now had two options; he could continue to refuse, and cause offence which could result in war, or he could accept. If he accepted, he would be taking Misao away from Malvolio, and keeping her close to him, in a crowd, but playing into the enemy's hands.

He led Misao away without another word.

It was true, she did not know how to dance, but neither of them cared very much. Their holds on each other were too tight as Aoshi tried to steer them deeper into the crowd. They were paying only the barest attention to the music and their feet as they both strained to sense from which direction the danger would be coming, and in what form. They knew the others would also be on red alert.

Aoshi was stopped by a slender, manicured hand on his arm. It was Tabitha.

"May I cut in?" she asked sweetly, but behind that she gave Misao a look that told her she had sealed her fate.

Aoshi stood resolute.

"I could not leave Misao unattended," he said, not letting go of her.

"Nonsense, my pet can look after her," said the woman sweetly. Misao looked behind her to find the boy from before standing there, looking lost without someone on the other end of his leash. He looked at her sheepishly, and took her hand, obviously following instructions. Aoshi would not let her be taken, glaring at the boy.

"I do not trust your pet to be of much use," he told Tabitha.

"Come, Aoshi-sama, I would not suggest it if I thought she would come to any harm," was the reply. Tabitha batted her eyelashes, but her eyes were as cold as ice. She had been slighted a century ago, and now she was going to get her revenge, and her prize too if she could convince him. No man had ever refused her for long.

It was a savage battle of wills. If Aoshi continued to keep Misao, it was an accusation, and Tabitha was promising war and death for his clan if he did. But he knew exactly what would happen if he let Misao go. The slave boy would take her straight to Malvolio. He had to trust the others to protect her now.

Slowly, he stiffly pulled his arms away from her. Misao felt like he had just dropped her off the side of a ship into shark-infested waters, but his eyes told her not to worry. Tabitha pushed her way between them and slipped her perfect arms around him. He held her mechanically. The boy's clammy, rough hand closed around hers and Misao was pulled away. Dancing vampires swirled between them and soon Aoshi was out of sight.

Misao turned to the boy pulling her through the crowd.

"Don't do this," she implored. He seemed to make a conscious effort to ignore her, so she tried talking to him in terms he might understand. "I belong to Aoshi-sama," she said.

The boy looked uncomfortable. "I know, but it won't be that bad. Maybe Malvolio will take you as his pet instead," he said. He was lying to himself and he knew it.

"No, you know that's not what he wants. Please let me go. You can say you lost me in the crowd, that I overpowered you or something," Misao continued, trying to pull her wrist free from his grip, which was strong with irrational obedience. She couldn't do more than that in the crowd, it would attract too much attention, and she wouldn't stand a chance then.

The boy shook his head. "I have to do this. Tabitha doesn't like it when I disobey her. Now stop talking," he said.

Misao gave up, he was obviously insane. He probably had Stockholm syndrome or worse. She stopped pitying him as he dragged her through the crowd.

A fairly plain white door stood in the wall. You wouldn't notice it if unless you were looking for it. The boy opened it and pulled them through. Inside was fairly plain and small, like a walk-in closet. There was a single light bulb dangling from the ceiling with an ornate lampshade that maintained the golden glow of the rest of the mansion.

Malvolio was waiting for her. He was the only thing in that room, making it seem infinitely more sinister, like a slaughter house. A special room for killing.

"I brought her," said the boy, his hand still on her wrist.

"Good," replied the vampire, coming closer. In one swift movement he grabbed the boy's head and twisted it, breaking his neck with an unbelievably loud pop. Misao jumped, and stumbled away from the body where it lay slumped on the floor like a stuffed dummy.

Her eyes were wide and her heart was beating fast. She contemplated the unlocked door, but Malvolio was between her and it. He obviously didn't expect her to get away.

He walked towards her, and she retreated fast, just trying to keep as much distance as she could between them. She was still staring at the body on the floor. He appeared to be watching her, staring at her with his chin on his shoulder.

"You killed him," she stated, near hysterics. "What about Tabitha?" Her reason was returning as she realised her own danger, and she tried to distract him.

"Oh, she won't care, she was getting bored with him anyway," the vampire replied. That was how much a human life was worth.

"But come, sweet Misao, don't look at me like that. You look so scared, but I can be just like your Okashira, I swear you won't know the difference," he said, as he continued to advance on her.

Should she scream? What difference would it make, the only people who would save her already knew she was in trouble. She quickly tore as many kunai and darts as she could out of her dress, and faced Malvolio in a fighting stance. He looked surprised and actually stopped for a moment.

"You came armed? How odd. You really are full of surprises, aren't you?" he said, smiling. His prey had just become a lot more interesting to him. He closed the distance between them.

Misao slammed the blades into his chest and stomach. Malvolio flinched, but that was it. Misao didn't waste time being surprised. In a flash, she drew the two long silver darts that were holding her hair in place and drove them into his neck, one in each side.

She suddenly found her wrists pinned to the wall beside her head. Malvolio's angry face filled her vision.

"Done?" he growled. The two darts stuck out of his neck like bolts on Frankenstein's monster. "Those last two hurt, you know," he said, his face was livid, he looked furious and in pain. Misao couldn't move. This was it.

Suddenly she heard an uproar from outside the room. A woman was shouting, a fight was breaking out. Help was on the way.

Malvolio heard it too. "We had better start, I think," he said. He drew back his head, tilting his face back and exposing his fangs with a hiss like something out of a bad movie. Misao squinted her eyes shut, not ready to meet her end, she felt like crying. She screamed.

She felt his breath on her neck and her hair be pushed out of the way.

But by the time these things had even fully registered, her wrists were free.

She opened her eyes. It was Hannya. He had pulled Malvolio off her and attacked him. Malvolio was preparing to fight him, his eyes becoming blank and his hair lifting as his vampire power filled the room. Aoshi was right when he said they were the most powerful vampires in the world. Misao had never experienced anything like it.

But Hannya didn't wait around for displays of power. He grabbed her and rushed her out of the room in his arms.

"Fear not, child, I have you," she heard his voice say from behind his mask, a soft, familiar voice that used to tell her bedtime stories. The instant they were out, Hyottoko filled the doorway and Misao heard the click of his flint teeth before the entire room was engulfed with flames.

Misao turned her face to the crowd, desperately searching for Aoshi. He was standing in the middle of a space cleared around him, facing off with Tabitha who looked like a Valkyrie in her fury with her hair flying and her lips drawn back. Just as she found him, he turned, and time ground to a halt as his blue eyes found hers.

People who thought he was emotionless were wrong. In that moment, he was terrified for her, and he couldn't hide it from her. Then everything seemed to move incredibly fast to make up for the temporary pause. Aoshi spun around back to the woman in front of him and punched her right in the face. No delicacy or vampire theatrics. She went down so fast it was almost comical, which Misao found very satisfying.

He turned again to fight his way to her. Reaching over his shoulders, he drew his kodachi. A thrill went through Misao at the sight of him. He was a demon in black, his twin swords flashing dangerously, daring anyone to come closer. His violent blue eyes were narrowed in fury, and insane amounts of power were pouring off him.

Misao thought she felt the crowd hesitate, as well they might. When Aoshi fought it was better than dancing, it was a thing of beauty, and it never failed to take Misao's breath away.

Hannya was already flying out of the room to the car with her still in his arms. Misao could hear the fighting intensify as the others helped their leader. Hannya loaded her into the car and by the time she had sat up properly, the doors were slamming shut and the tires were spinning on the gravel.

The black car sped out of the compound at over a hundred miles an hour, bouncing on the curb. Misao looked around her, everyone was there, and she relaxed slightly. They all understood it was war now. The Court had the power and the resources to wipe the Oniwabanshuu off the face of the earth forever.

Aoshi didn't slow down for the whole drive, and Misao tried not to think of the trees that had to be whizzing past them right then. It was only Aoshi's vampiric night vision and reflexes that kept the car on the road and in one piece. He handed Beshimi, who was in the passenger seat, a mobile phone.

"Call the others. Tell them to get out - abandon everything and meet us at the Dojo," he ordered. "Then call the Dojo and tell them we're coming."

Beshimi got started, and as the car flew through the dark, Misao began to feel at fault.

"Aoshi-sama, I'm so sorry, I tried, I never meant to-" she started.

"This is not your fault, Misao. I never should have taken you there," he replied, his hands tightening on the wheel.

"But..."

"Misao! We will discuss this later," he said harshly. Misao wasn't scared, she knew her Okashira didn't really blame her, or if he did, he would never admit it. Right now, he was in an understandably bad mood. He would not be available to do anything other than think and plan until he had his entire clan safe around him.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but think about how wrong everything had gone, and how much her family stood to lose. She looked down into her lap at her hands, nestled amongst the folds of her stupid dress, and sniffed.

A gloved hand on the end of a striped arm came into view and covered hers, tightening gently. "Don't cry, little Misao, we will be alright. It could never have been avoided, from the moment the invitation was sent," he said, his voice a gentle murmur in the gloom of the car.

If Okina had been her father figure, then Hannya was like a godfather. More distant from the family than her favourite uncles, Beshimi and Hyottoko, but he left an impression whenever he visited. He was reserved by nature, more like Aoshi, but he was incredibly wise, seeming to be as old as time itself. He could always comfort her, not by a hug, but by his faith.

Having grown up with it, his mask had never scared her. When she had been a baby, she had wrapped her little podgy fists around the horns and laughed. She had always thought it looked like it was laughing, rather than anything else. It was just his face, even if it never moved when he spoke and always had the same expression. She didn't know what he looked like under it, but she wasn't really curious about it.

Misao nodded, and tried to wipe her tears away, knowing that he wouldn't be satisfied by anything else. She accepted his words as true. This outcome probably had been inevitable, but she couldn't help but feel that it was all because of her anyway. She was their weakness, they were always having to work around her rather than with her, and that was humiliating.

At the speed that Aoshi was driving, they reached the Dojo in a time that Misao hadn't thought possible. The underground garage was open and waiting for them, and they drove in. Kaoru was waiting for them. She was obviously shocked by Misao's appearance, her amazing dress so unlike anything she'd ever worn before, with some stitching torn where the weapons had been hidden, and her long hair tumbling down around her shoulders.

"The others are already here," she said as they approached. "Are you all alright? Don't worry you can stay here as long as you need to. We'll give you everything you need,"

"Thank you, Kaoru. I am grateful to you," said Aoshi, as they ascended in the large elevator.

"It's nothing, Aoshi, it's the least I could do," she replied. The doors pinged open onto the large lobby where Okon and the others were gathered. There was mass relief as the clan was reunited, and Aoshi was visibly more at ease now. Okina was there in his dressing gown and slippers.

"You got me out of bed for _this_?" he huffed to Misao, making light of the situation to reassure his adopted daughter.

"Oh, can it, Jiya, you're not so old and feeble as to get special treatment whenever it suits you," she replied in her usual fashion.

"That's right, I'm still young enough to teach the likes of you a lesson," he answered back. Misao felt better having one of her verbal spars with the old man.

Megumi was there in her role as doctor, just in case there were any injuries. There weren't any that needed her attention, so she went to bed. Sano was there as well, because he was curious and he liked drama. When he saw Misao, he was amazed.

"Holy shit, Weasel-girl, must've been one hell of a party! You clean up good, I mean _Goddamn_!" he exclaimed. Misao was both flattered and unnerved by this, but when his eyes lingered too long, she resorted to aggression, something a lot more familiar.

"Eyes up, Rooster-head, there's enough silver hidden in this dress to make you look like a constellation," she threatened.

"Whatever, a few scars might just be worth it, looking at you," he replied. Across the room, Aoshi cleared his throat. Sano gave a nervous laugh, "On the other hand, I don't think pissing off the ice-man is worth it, so I'll just say you look like a million dollars and keep my distance over here," he concluded.

Aoshi had finished discussing plans for the short term so they were invited to retire to their rooms, they had almost an entire floor to themselves. It was a good thing the Dojo was much bigger than it needed to be. Aoshi found Misao and placed a hand on her back, making it clear that he needed her beside him tonight.

Once they reached their room, Aoshi shut the door and sat down on the bed. Misao gratefully sat in his lap, resting her head against his chest as he put his arms around her. Misao closed her eyes as all the adrenaline drained away, leaving her feeling cold, empty and tired. Aoshi nuzzled her neck and hair, inhaling her scent as if he was trying to reacquaint himself with her.

"Forgive me, Misao. I should never have put you in the position you were in tonight. I should have recognised the invitation for what it was. I knew it was dangerous but I still took you there, I'm sorry," he said, his lips moving against her hair.

"It's not your fault, Aoshi-sama. I should have done a better job. You did your best to protect me. I hate always having to be the weak one. You're a really good Okashira, the best," she replied.

Aoshi smiled, "Thank you. It's childish, but I like it that you think that about me," he said, his hand rubbing her back, while the other held her thigh and kept her close to him.

"Of course I do. You're amazing," she continued sleepily. "You totally kicked ass tonight. I especially liked it when you punched Tabitha in the face. She was a ho,"

Aoshi laughed a little, "Yes, well, I can't say I'm proud of what I did. After all, I think I broke her nose,"

"She deserved it,"

"Yes," he agreed.

"She was a ho,"

Aoshi laughed again and kissed her temple, "If you insist," he said.

"And she was ugly," pressed Misao.

"Oh, disgusting," said Aoshi. Misao knew he was only humouring her, but she liked it. They were starting to be happy again, now that they were away from that mansion and its inhabitants.

"And you say I kicked ass?" he continued. It was funny to hear her Okashira use that expression, and fish for compliments, but it had been a hard night, and she wouldn't be surprised if on some level Aoshi needed some comfort of his own.

"Oh yes, you were very scary. They were shaking in their boots, I could tell. I was very impressed, I have the best boyfriend ever," she said, and she made the effort to pull herself up and give him a quick kiss.

"Thank you, Misao, though I'm not sure how sincere that was," he said.

"Very sincere," she said immediately.

"Oh, okay. That's alright then,"

Misao looked up at him with one eye to see him smiling his modest smile at her.

"Are you teasing me, Aoshi-sama?" she accused.

"Never," he replied innocently.

"Oh, okay," she said, snuggling back into his chest. "That's alright then."

Aoshi kissed her again, and allowed her to doze for a moment or two, before rousing her gently.

"Misao, I need to ask you something more," he said gently. She groaned and objected, making him smile. "You can hardly sleep in that dress," he argued.

Misao wriggled and said, "I'm sure you'd take it off for me." The Okashira scoffed, and when she opened her eyes she found him staring at her with one eyebrow slightly raised. "Not in a perverted way of course," she consoled, before letting her heavy eyelid drop closed again. "Besides, I don't have any pyjamas with me anyway."

But Aoshi jostled her slightly in his arms and spoke again. "Misao, before I let you go to sleep, I need you to tell me exactly what Malvolio did to you," he said.

That had Misao's eyes snapping open. She slowly straightened up to look at his face. "Why?" she asked, reluctant to revisit that unpleasant event.

"Peace of mind," he replied simply, looking slightly embarrassed at his nervous state.

Misao sighed, and told him what had happened after they had been separated. It was a summary, she tried to keep it brief, and make light of the worst parts, but she didn't think she was terribly successful in shielding her Okashira from his own guilt.

While she had been talking, Aoshi had been unpicking the laces of her bodice absent-mindedly. She knew he just wanted something to distract him as he listened, and he kept his eyes on his work long after she had finished. A tiny crease had appeared between his brows, the only external sign of the inner anguish.

Misao took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her.

"Aoshi-sama, please don't feel bad. Nobody got hurt," she said, wincing as she remembered Tabitha's poor slave boy and realised that was a lie.

He sighed. "I still have you here with me, that's true, and that was my goal was all along. To still have you here in my arms tonight, happy and unharmed," he said. He made the effort to cheer up. "Now, let's get you out of this dress, it turns out to be insanely complicated," he said, frowning at the knots in the bodice.

Misao laughed and stood up to make things easier. It did take a while, but their combined effort did eventually get her free of the dress. Of course, Aoshi couldn't resist kissing her here and there as different parts of her were liberated, but he could tell Misao was much too tired for anything other than sleep, and he was more than happy to lie next to her as she curled up in the bed.


	8. Heartbeat

Chapter 8

Aoshi stood at the head of the long table. The rest of the Oniwabanshuu lined the sides. Kaoru was allowed to be there since she was the host, and she was endangering her own people by harbouring fugitives from the Vampire Court.

Aoshi had his hands on the table, leaning forward. He looked a little strung out, it was obvious how worried he was about the future of his clan, but his voice was steady and he gave nothing away. His eyes were determined.

"The Aoiya has been destroyed, burned to the ground. The secondary headquarters in Tokyo has as well. Every supernatural being in Japan will know by now what has happened," he said. There was a flicker of grief, but otherwise the ninjas took the news with fitting composure.

Kaoru squeezed Misao's hand under the table as they sat next to each other.

"We must thank Kaoru for housing us for the moment. It seems the Court does not yet know where we are. I must ask everyone _not_ to leave the Dojo until further notice. It will not be long until the Court finds us, we have a responsibility not to stay here too long. I will find us somewhere else, but it would be futile to go there if the Court is just going to burn it down, with us inside it. Obviously I will try to avoid a war but it may very well come to that, so be prepared. We need to discover why they summoned us - and Misao specifically - in the first place. Meanwhile, it is too late for negotiations. Our best option is to make a deal, we have to give them something that they want."

Aoshi paused. Everyone at the table knew how unlikely it was that they would find something that the Vampire Court wanted but, for whatever reason, didn't have.

This was why Aoshi was so respected as an Okashira. While he was also an incredibly strong fighter, he was also very diplomatic. He always put the lives of his clan first, even a single death was unacceptable. He was not afraid of battle, but if it was a battle he didn't think they could win, then he would do anything to avoid it. Against the Vampire Court, he wasn't taking any chances.

"The Vampire Court has other enemies. If we can find these fugitives, we may be able to appease the Court," he continued.

Misao fidgeted.

"Yes, Misao?" prompted Aoshi.

"Well, it's just... Bounty hunting? Isn't that a bit... you know... hypocritical?" she said, wincing. The poor girl was obviously trying her hardest not to offend the Okashira. "I mean, aren't we fugitives too? These others are probably like us, and haven't done anything wrong," she said uncomfortably.

"This is not an ideal situation, Misao, which means there are no idealistic solutions. I must do what I can to protect the Oniwabanshuu," replied Aoshi.

"But I mean, couldn't we join up with them instead? Maybe we would be able to fight off the Vampire Court with their help," she said.

Aoshi shifted his weight and stood up straight. "Misao, some of these men will be genuine criminals, and it is a very short list. The Vampire Court does not let people escape them. We would not be able to 'fight them off.' If we fought, we would have to destroy the entire Court to be safe, and that would seriously destabilise the supernatural community the world over. It cannot be done," argued the vampire.

"Well, maybe we could only give them the guys that deserve it," suggested Misao, sensing that she was losing.

"We do not have time to investigate them all and pick and choose. These people are _very_ well hidden. I do not like the idea any more than you do, but so far, it is the best we can do," said Aoshi.

Misao sat back in her chair, submitting unhappily. She knew her Okashira was right.

"Are there any other comments on this?" asked Aoshi, turning back to the table in general.

"We will help in any way we can, Okashira," said Hannya, solemnly. Aoshi nodded his thanks.

He looked down at the table, as if he was steeling himself for something. Misao wondered what could be harder to talk about than the dire situation they were in already.

"There is another matter that needs to be discussed," he said ominously, and his eyes flicked to Misao, startling her. Why her?

"Misao's initiation," he said. "It might be wise to make it as soon as possible. Malvolio will lose his interest in her if she is no longer human, and she will be less vulnerable. That being said," He addressed what came next directly to Misao. "I will not be available to instruct and care for you as much as I should. It would be up to the others to teach you what you need to know. I understand that this is not how you would want it. Ultimately, the choice is yours, Misao," he said.

Misao gaped like a fish, her mouth opening and closing. She hadn't even thought of her initiation. She should have been glad, but now that it had suddenly rushed up on her, she hesitated. She didn't want a rush job, done only to protect her. And she did want Aoshi to be the one to look after her as a new vampire. But if it would help to keep her clan safe, and if it would give Aoshi one less thing to worry about, how could she object?

"We are more than capable of protecting her as she is," said Okon, speaking up as she saw Misao's indecision. She wanted to make it alright for the girl to choose to remain human for a while.

"It's okay, I'll do it," she said, not sounding very enthusiastic. Everyone could tell she was resigning herself to a fate she didn't really want. Aoshi in particular was scrutinising her face carefully.

"You don't want this, I can tell," he said.

"No! I do. I mean, as long as it makes me a vampire, what difference does it make, right?"

"No, I know how much you've dreamed of this. I want it to be perfect for you. I shouldn't have asked you to make such a decision." He turned away from her as if the discussion was over.

"Aoshi-sama, come on, I should do my part for the Oniwabanshuu, too, shouldn't I?" she cried.

"I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself," replied the Okashira.

"It's no sacrifice!"

"Misao..."

"Okay, a vote, who's in favour of making me a vampire now?" said Misao, looking down the table expectantly. Nobody moved.

"Anyone could see that you don't want this, little one," said Shikijou.

"You've been waiting a long time for this, we won't let you rush through it and ruin it," said Omasu nervously, seeing Misao's angry expression at being outvoted.

"It's settled then," concluded Aoshi, a slight lilt of smugness in his voice.

"You guys suck," huffed Misao, crossing her arms and slouching back in her chair, though she had to admit a small part of her _was_ relieved.

The meeting soon ended. It was up to Aoshi now, to come up with a plan that would save them all. As all the others left, Misao stayed behind to talk to him.

"Aoshi-sama, if it will help, I _want_ to-"

He cut her off. "Misao, no. You deserve a proper ceremony, with nothing hanging over you. It will be done in Oniwabanshuu territory, you will wear your white kimono, and I will be there to instruct you afterwards." His eyes softened and he brought his hand up to stroke her hair. "The way it should be," he finished.

"But..." hesitated Misao.

"A compromise. I will keep the idea in mind, as a last resort only. Agreed?"

"Fine," agreed Misao, who did actually feel better.

oOo

Kaoru was at the doctor's again, getting another ultrasound. The more she saw of the man, the more she disliked him. Megumi had ordered an ultrasound machine of her own, but it would take a while for the paperwork to go through and so on. But at least she had managed to get a much later appointment, once Megumi had pulled some strings.

"Hmm," said the doctor. Kaoru wanted to smack him.

"What? What is it, doctor?" she asked. At first she didn't think it was anything, but when he didn't reply, her heart jumped to her throat.

The doctor repositioned the machine and pressed some buttons. Then he said quietly, without looking at Kaoru,

"For one, your baby doesn't seem to have grown at all since I last saw you. And secondly, we should be able to hear the heartbeat by now, but I'm not getting it," he said.

The bottom dropped out of Kaoru's world.

"M-Maybe you're machine's broken," she suggested, approaching hysterics.

"It was working fine earlier," he said.

This could not be happening. Was what Megumi predicted right? Was her baby dead?

But maybe it didn't need a heartbeat. It was a vampire baby after all. It could be perfectly fine.

But what if it wasn't?

The doctor switched off the machine with a grim air of finality, as if there was no point in it anymore, as if he was about to pronounce the time of death. Kaoru, as much as she had disliked him moments ago, was now watching him frantically as if he was her only hope.

"What I would suggest, Mrs Kamiya," he said slowly and solemnly, definitely a bad sign. "Is that you come back next week and we'll try again. But if we still can't find a heartbeat, I'm afraid that means the foetus hasn't survived,"

_Hasn't survived..._

"And in that case, I think it would be safest and most painless if we remove it surgically,"

_No! You're not cutting my baby out of me!_

The next thing Kaoru remembered was sitting in her car, parked on the hard shoulder, crying hysterically.

Her baby didn't have the heartbeat it should have. It hadn't grown. They wanted to cut it out of her. It was dead.

But they didn't know. They didn't understand. It could be fine, it could be perfectly happy in there. But how could it live without a heartbeat? What if it never grew? What if it was born a foetus, a bloodthirsty foetus that would die anyway? Maybe Megumi had been right, maybe she should have had an abortion.

But it could still work! Nobody knew. This had never been done before. It could be fine!

But what if it wasn't and she thought it was. What if she had a dead thing inside her, just floating there, and she kept it because she thought it was alive? Would it rot? Would it decay inside her womb, turn to sick sludge?

Would that kill her?

But did she care? What if they took it out and it would have been fine? Wouldn't that be worse than her own death?

Kaoru sobbed, loud, heaving, messy sobs, bent over the passenger seat, unable to support herself. Her whole body felt like it was made out of tears.

She lost track of time. When she next became aware, night had fallen. It was much later than she had realised.

She couldn't cry anymore. It would come back later. For now, she was numb. Numb and cold and alone.

She dug out her mobile and called her apartment. The phone was answered the second it started ringing.

"Kaoru?"

It was Kenshin. The poor soul must have been waiting for her. She should have been back by now. He must have gone out of his mind worrying about her. And he didn't even know how bad it really was yet.

She sniffed, and said in a broken, tired voice,

"Can you come and get me, please? I'm in my car on the way back from the doctor's,"

"What's wrong? You sound like you've been crying. Have you broken down?" he said in a rush.

"Can you just..." She didn't want to talk over the phone, and she felt _so_ tired. Bone-weary. "Just come and get me, please?"

"Yes, I'm coming, Kaoru, just hold on,"

She heard the jangle of keys in the background and hung up. Twenty minutes went by in a haze and then the passenger door opened, startling her. Kenshin climbed in, his familiar red hair dulled by the darkness around them and his violet eyes, that looked dark blue, were shining with concern.

"Kaoru, love, what is it? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he said, leaning towards her.

His small frame seemed to fill the car. Kaoru was still dazed.

"I'm fine," she answered slowly, then "They couldn't find a heartbeat, for the baby."

Her voice sounded strange and distant and unimportant. It was like saying "The Lakers lost the game."

Her words filtered through to Kenshin and he gathered her up in his arms, and just like that she was crying again, but nothing like the first time. She choked out all her worries, buts and what ifs with her head on his shoulder, shaking, while her tears stained his shirt. He just stroked her back and shushed her soothingly like a child, telling her it was all going to be alright.

He was being strong. That's what he did. He was pushing his own emotions to the side so that he could help her. He was being self-sacrificing, as always. Kaoru knew he must be feeling the same thing, she knew he loved the baby almost as much as she did.

Eventually Kaoru ran out of worries. She felt they were on the same page now. She was numb again, resting stunned on Kenshin's shoulder while he rocked her gently and rubbed her back absent-mindedly. Silence filled the car.

Kaoru pulled away, stiff, feeling her joints creak.

"Can we go home now?" she said, sniffing and wiping at her face. Kenshin nodded and smoothly moved himself into the driver's seat, starting the car. He left his own, he'd get it later.

Kaoru didn't want to see or talk to anyone for days. She just stayed in bed, catatonic. Kenshin was the one to explain things to Megumi, and politely stop her from visiting. He tried to make Kaoru feel better, making small talk and passing on messages, cooking for her, but nothing seemed to help. It was like she was dead.

He did everything he could because it broke his heart to see her that way. Inside he was poisoned with guilt. This was his fault. It was his fault she was pregnant, his fault her baby wasn't normal, and now it was his fault that her baby might be dead.

Why was he surprised? It was obvious now, he was wrong when he'd thought he'd been blessed, this was just more punishment, and he'd earned it. But he cursed the gods for bringing Kaoru into this and making her suffer too. She was an angel, and how could they be so cruel as to pick her to be the one to use against him?

Battousai was keeping to himself. He didn't like what was going on, so he stayed away. He had only come out to hunt since Kaoru had confronted him about the pregnancy, and that was fine by Kenshin. Battousai didn't want to be a father, then let him stay away. Kaoru was too vulnerable right now to deal with him.

Kaoru stayed in bed for days. Megumi received her new ultrasound, but Kaoru wasn't interested. She didn't want to find out again that the baby was dead.

One night she was asleep, one of the fitful, light naps that she fell into during the night, when Kenshin went in to check on her. It seemed too harsh, too cruel for her to be like this. Would she stay this way for the rest of her life? She didn't look like she would ever recover.

Kenshin hadn't been there when she'd heard the news. He didn't know what it was to listen for something necessary to your happiness and not find it. He was suddenly struck by the urge to investigate this dead baby himself. He wanted to hear for himself that his child was nothing but a useless clump of cells.

He knelt down by the bed. He didn't want to wake her. His vampire hearing could already detect her heartbeat quite clearly. He moved the blanket away from her stomach, checking that she wasn't disturbed. Carefully, he lowered his ear to her abdomen, only his bangs touching her, brushing a bare inch of skin.

Kaoru groaned and rolled onto her back, making him jump. He almost laughed at himself, he felt like a little kid listening at keyholes. But he positioned himself again, his ear hovering a fraction over her. For a moment, time hung suspended as he listened, tuning out everything else. He gasped slowly as he realised he could hear something he didn't recognise.

Kaoru's hand came up to run through his hair.

"What are you doing?" she murmured, frowning without opening her eyes.

"Kaoru, what does a baby's heartbeat sound like?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Kaoru opened her eyes and froze as she caught on to what he was doing.

"It's much faster than normal," she said. Kenshin's eyes sparkled and life began to return to Kaoru.

"I can hear it," he said, a grin coming to his face, "I can hear it!"

Kaoru sat up in a flash and grabbed his head between her hands.

"Are you sure?" she cried.

"I am, it's there! Our baby's alive!" He grabbed her hands and what followed was a lot of screaming and jumping around, hugging and kissing with joy.

Kaoru seized his hand and dragged him out of the apartment, running for the infirmary. She didn't care that she was wearing her crumpled pyjamas that had been in bed with her for days and were a bit funky by now. She just charged into the infirmary and shouted,

"Megumi! We're doing the ultrasound! _Now_!"

"What? Kaoru, you can't just... You have to... How come you're out of bed?" said the surprised doctor.

"Kenshin says he can hear the baby's heartbeat!" replied Kaoru, still grinning and shining with delight. She had already dragged the machine over and leapt onto one of the beds.

Megumi hesitated, but decided to help them, dropping what she had been doing. It took a few minutes to get the machine operational, but then they were all set up. There was the fuzzy black and white image of their baby, swimming around on the screen. They could hear the big _whump whump_ of her heart, but under that, unmistakeably, there was a tiny _whumpwhump whumpwhump whumpwhump_.

Kaoru was holding Kenshin's hand and she squeezed it so tightly she almost hurt herself. She laughed with relief and started crying again. Kenshin was fixated by the image, having never seen it before. He squeezed her hand back. Megumi looked at them and smiled.

"Congratulations, your baby is very much alive," she said momentously.

And for a moment they all just watched in silence as the little figure rolled over inside her, seeming almost to wave.

Something else dawned on Kaoru, and her expression darkened a little.

"I'm not going back to that doctor. I'm not. Or any doctor. They don't understand, they could make a mistake. He wanted me to get rid of the baby. I'm not going back," she said, looking from Kenshin to Megumi.

"We won't make you. Dr Gensai and myself will do all the research and be your doctors, Kaoru. Dr Gensai's delivered plenty of babies in his time," replied Megumi.

And that was settled, then. Megumi made a call to the doctor telling him that the baby was fine but that Kaoru would not be seeing him again. She had to be quite firm as the man insisted it was in the baby's best interests, but in the end they were free of him. This was a very supernatural baby, and from now on, no humans allowed.

Well, unless they're the mother, of course.


	9. The Happy News

Chapter 9

Battousai had escaped the apartment and made his way through the city to the forest beyond its limits. He preferred the cool, calm quiet of nature to the loud, dirty chaos of the modern world. Out here, he could feel that nothing had really changed, that he hadn't been locked inside that bastard Rurouni for a hundred years, and that his life was still interesting, still the way it should be.

He always thought of leaving the Dojo and Kaoru's infuriating domestic bliss as 'escaping', because that was how it felt. It was liberating to be by himself. He was not a _boyfriend_, not a companion or ally, he was a vampire. A killer, a shadow, a merciless legend – or that was what he was supposed to be. His life had become depressingly mediocre. His outlook wasn't helped by the knowledge that that old demon the Wolf of Mibu had also fallen tragically from what he once was.

He moved silently through the trees, training his senses to pick out every animal for miles, listening to their calls, their footsteps, their breathing, smelling their dirty fur and feathers. Around him, everything was quiet, as every animal knew to hide from him. This was where he belonged, with other creatures of instinct, not those abrasive humans.

In three years, he had accepted his existence here, he no longer raged against it, but still his biggest wish was to return to the past. He knew it was impossible though. He felt cursed with a straining longing for something utterly unobtainable. His life now was... a joke. A shade. The Rurouni had engineered a comfortable, weakling existence for himself, and Battousai was being forced to share it. There was no passion in this life, no anger or hate or fear, no violence or power, no victory, just a woman, her apartment and her peculiar friends. Even hunting had lost its thrill as the Rurouni, with his ridiculous blood transfusions, had eliminated any kind of real hunger from them. Battousai knew he was in a sad situation when he longed to feel starvation.

Granted, when he fed from Kaoru that sick magic between them made it infinitely more intense than he could have with any other victim, but that was just one more chain tying him down. And yes, he had started claiming her body as well, but that was a recurrent weakness, not something he was proud of. If any of his old enemies had survived, any of the ones against whom he wasn't _guaranteed_ to win, he probably would have sought them out for a duel, recklessly endangering himself just to feel something again. Of course, the damn bond prevented him from killing, and Battousai would never be so weak as to seek suicide.

And now he was supposed to become a father as well. That was the obscene last nail in the coffin burying the proud Hitokiri Battousai of legend. He refused to do it. He wouldn't be a father to some snivelling brat, whether it was his or not. The woman could keep it. Let the Rurouni disgrace himself. The only way he was going to have anything to do with it was if it turned out to be a devil, a vampire prodigy. Then he might have a worthy opponent at last.

oOo

Kaoru knew she was going to have to tell people about her pregnancy when Sano came up behind her one day and said,

"Whoa, Jou-chan! Been hittin' the donuts lately?"

What made him more suspicious was he didn't get beaten up for calling her fat. She just laughed nervously and changed the subject. Because it was true, she was starting to have to wear looser clothes now. It seemed that after taking so long to get started, her baby was growing scarily fast to make up for it. Plus, she was reaching the end of her first trimester, when Megumi said the risk of miscarriage dropped, so she didn't have to worry about telling everyone about the baby and then losing it.

She knew she couldn't tell them all at once, though she wanted to. She would have to call everyone to the Akabeko, and it wasn't safe for Misao to leave the Dojo, and Aoshi would be too busy, if he was even around at the moment. Putting Sano and Saitoh in a room together would also be asking for trouble, and Saitoh didn't like the Akabeko anyway. It would also be a tough job to get Hiko to leave his seclusion in the woods.

So Kenshin and Kaoru prepared themselves for a night-time tour of all their friends and acquaintances. They would start with those who were closest, who actually lived in the Dojo. Which meant that first up was Yahiko.

When Kaoru had had to give up kendo, Yahiko's lessons had turned into lectures. Kaoru would explain the theory, and give him some high number of strikes to practice while she watched, correcting any mistakes should she find them. He had been suspicious and grouchy at first, saying she was lazy for not doing anything herself, but then he found he could spend the entire lesson insulting her without getting hit for it. In fact, she barely shouted at him, just bit her tongue and advised him to get on with his work. So he stopped asking about her inactivity, looking on the bright side.

Kaoru knocked on Yahiko's door. He had his own apartment, but Kaoru made sure there was no TV, video games or anything he could start a fire with in there. She wanted to prevent him becoming a couch potato, or hurting himself. There was plenty of entertainment for him in the rec room, and fire extinguishers.

It was a while before Yahiko pulled his door open. Inside looked like a bomb had hit it, with clothes and empty food packets strewn everywhere. Yahiko was squinting at them through tired eyes. All he was wearing was pair of black sweatpants.

"Busu? What the hell?" he groaned, leaning against the door and closing his eyes.

"You're still in bed?" cried Kaoru.

"I just got into bed! I was working at the Akabeko this evening, remember?" he snapped. Even half-dead, he could still find the energy to fight with her. And to Kaoru's dismay, at fifteen, he was getting dangerously close to being taller than her.

"Ooh... With Tsubame?" Kaoru sang. Yahiko just gave her a withering look.

"What do you want anyway?" he said, half hiding a huge yawn behind his fist.

"We need to talk to you," Kaoru replied solemnly, glancing at Kenshin.

"It wasn't me, ask Sano," he said with a practiced tone and started shutting the door. Kaoru stuck out her hand.

"You're not in trouble, Yahiko, for once. We just have something to tell you," said Kaoru, getting a bit short with him.

"Okay, shoot," he prompted.

"Um, can't we come in?"

"Do you have to?" he groaned, but he let them in.

"Jesus Christ, this place is a tip. There's nothing infectious in here, is there?" she said, as she and Kenshin cleared space on the couch. Yahiko sat cross-legged on the floor opposite them.

"I dunno, define 'infectious,'" was his carefree reply. "So what's the big news?" he asked, seeming to have woken up a bit more.

"Um, well, actually... I'm pregnant," she said, glancing at Kenshin again, who was looking at her supportively.

"What?" was Yahiko's reply, obviously thinking he'd misheard.

"I'm pregnant. I'm going to have Kenshin's baby," she repeated.

Yahiko looked between the couple sitting on his couch. He groaned and rubbed his eyes with his elbow resting on his knee.

"That's a mental image I didn't need," he murmured. "Seriously, Busu, are you trying to give me nightmares? I can feel the psychological scars being carved into my brain as we speak. Thanks a lot," he continued.

"You are so immature," Kaoru shrieked, leaping up.

"Whoa! Are you gonna get all hormonal on me now?" he accused.

"This isn't hormonal, this is justified!" Kaoru replied. "You're supposed to be happy for me, not..."

"Grossed out?" he offered.

Kaoru narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes,"

"Hmm. So this is why you've haven't been doing anything in practice lately?" he asked.

"Yeah, you're gonna have to basically train yourself for a while,"

"Hmm," he seemed to consider this. Yahiko had a knack for finding an angle on a situation that suited him, and Kaoru knew this all too well. She braced herself as he smiled to himself.

"You're gonna get fat," he said.

"And I'll sit on you, you little pest!" Kaoru threatened loudly. This boy brought out the worst in her.

"I'd like to see you try, Busu!" Yahiko retorted. Kaoru considered his shinai propped up in the corner but decided against it. She composed herself and sat back down.

"So, how pregnant are you, anyway?" he asked.

"Three months," Kaoru replied.

"There's really gonna be a little Kenshin running around, huh?" Yahiko nodded as he thought about it, and looked at Kenshin. "Well, congratulations, man, I guess. Though how and why you knocked Kaoru up is something I'd really rather not think about."

"Hey!"

"Thank you Yahiko," said Kenshin politely, though his smile was genuine.

"Heh heh, I can teach the little guy how to piss Kaoru off," continued Yahiko, almost to himself.

"You will not! And watch your mouth!" cried Kaoru.

"Well, look at it this way, if he's in trouble, at least you know I'll be there with him to look after him," said Yahiko with a shrug.

Kaoru was kind of touched, and lay off him.

"We don't know that it's a boy," she said.

"I know, but I really don't want to think about another _you_ walking around,"

Honestly. Yahiko could be sweet at times, but he always managed to ruin it almost instantly. They left him to go back to bed.

Sano was easier in some ways, and harder in others. The fact that he lived with Megumi was a blessing, because they knew they could leave her to do all the explaining, so Sano didn't ask too many questions. On the other hand, his first reaction was to beat Kenshin up. He didn't, but Kaoru had to explain to him that she was very happy about the baby, and that Kenshin was doing the honourable thing and staying with her.

"Come on, this kid is going to need their Uncle Sano," she cajoled.

He looked at her. "Uncle Sano?" he grumbled, considering it and calming down.

"Yeah, their Uncle Sano, who they can talk to about all the stuff they don't want to talk to us about," she continued.

"Hey, yeah, that's right. There's loads I can teach 'em. Like, if it's a boy, I can teach him 'bout girls," said Sano, watching Megumi out of the corner of his eye.

"And if it's a girl, you can scare all her boyfriends," added Kaoru.

Sano looked back at her. "Damn straight," he growled, clenching his fist. "Ain't nobody touching my little niece who ain't good enough," he said.

Kaoru stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Sano," she said, grateful for his support. She didn't know what she would have done if his anti-vampire bias had applied to her baby. He had slowly accepted Kenshin, though he was still reserved about Battousai, but Kaoru wasn't sure how far that change went.

"I ain't changing any diapers, though," he said sternly. Kaoru laughed,

"I have Kenshin for that," she whispered with a wink.

Next stop was Oz.

He let them in and sat them down in his living room, offering Kaoru some strange tea that she'd never heard of, which she politely declined. He smiled at them both, his feet up on the coffee table again, with his arms stretched out along the back of his seat.

"So, what's up? I haven't been able to find out anything conclusive on the vampires-acting-strangely thing yet, I'm afraid, but I'm working on it," he said.

Kaoru had forgotten about that what with her pregnancy hitting her and the drama with the Oniwabanshuu. She felt bad, she was neglecting her work because of her personal life. She resigned herself to looking into the case again later.

"That's not why we're here," said Kaoru. "Kenshin and I have some... big news,"

Oz's eyebrows rose over his glasses. "Oh? Good news, I hope," he said, looking between them.

"We think it is, and I hope you do, too" said Kaoru.

"Well? Come on, I'm on the edge of my seat here," he said with a light laugh.

"Okay. Oz, Kenshin and I are going to have a baby," she said. She was already getting a bit tired of repeating herself and she wasn't even half way through the people she had to inform tonight.

Oz was so startled, his smile fell off his face.

"What?" he said after a long pause, forcing himself to sound cheery while at the same time obviously expecting it to be a joke.

"I'm pregnant, and Kenshin's the father,"

Oz cleared his throat and took his feet off the table, leaning forward.

"But... how is that possible?" he said. There was such energy in his words that Kaoru was a bit startled, but she just put it down to a professional interest.

"We have a few theories but nothing concrete. But we don't think the 'how?' matters too much, we're focusing on just dealing with it," Kaoru replied.

Oz seemed to be waiting for more, but when none came he leant back again slowly. His red earring glinted as it twisted slightly under his black hair. He looked at Kenshin and said "You're a lucky man,"

"Thank you, I know I am," replied Kenshin.

"How long has this been... I mean, how far along are you?" he asked Kaoru.

"Three months, more or less. We're not sure exactly, we weren't paying too close attention," answered Kaoru, squeezing Kenshin's hand and smiling at him.

"Uh-huh. Well, this certainly is curious news. It will be interesting indeed to see how the child turns out," he said. Kaoru flinched a little.

"Yes, we're kind of wondering that ourselves," she said.

"I'm not surprised. Having a child with a vampire, it can't be easy," Oz continued.

"We're managing."

A chill had come over Kaoru. She stood up to leave and they said goodbye. In the corridor, Kenshin put his arm around her.

"We'll be alright," he said, trying to comfort her.

"You sure about that?" Kaoru replied, to which he had no answer.

When they got to the floor the Oniwabanshuu were staying on, they could immediately feel unseen eyes on them, and the Okashira's door opened before they knocked. Security was obviously tight.

It was Misao who had opened the door, and she gave them a friendly greeting, but the times were clearly starting to wear on her. Aoshi was in a meeting with some of the others, so they waited a few minutes for him to finish. He too was looking like he'd been working too hard.

"How can I help you?" he said, holding back a sigh as one more thing apparently landed on his plate.

"We don't need anything from you, Okashira. Kenshin and I just have something to tell you," said Kaoru.

Aoshi offered them seats and sat down himself behind his desk. He seemed curious at least. Misao stood next to his desk.

"Kenshin and I are expecting a child," said Kaoru, rephrasing 'I am pregnant' for the umpteenth time that night.

Misao flipped. She squealed and hugged Kaoru tightly, jumping up and down.

"Ahh! Kaoru, that's so amazing, I'm so happy for you! This is gonna rock! When are you going to have it? What are you going to call it? Is it a boy or a girl?" she screamed. Kaoru told her all she knew so far, which was not much.

"Is this why you've been wearing those baggy clothes recently? Ooh, can I feel it?" she asked, her hands already on Kaoru's slightly protruding stomach. "Oh, I can feel it! Aoshi-sama, I can feel it!" she called over her shoulder. "Hello, Baby, helloooo, it's your Auntie Misao!"

Misao continued baby-talking to Kaoru's stomach loudly, while the two women chatted away. Aoshi meanwhile was talking quietly to Kenshin, after getting over his initial shock, that is.

"Are you sure the child is yours?" he asked seriously.

"Kaoru says that it is, and I believe her," Kenshin replied. Aoshi looked over at Kaoru, considering it.

"Do you know if the baby will survive?" he asked. Kenshin ducked his head as he discussed this sore topic.

"There is a lot of risk. You know this has never happened before, people say it is impossible. We do not know how successful it will be. But so far," he shook his head lightly and shrugged. "We've made it this far. It is alive. It does not appear to be deformed in any way. We are hopeful," he finished.

Aoshi nodded. "Who else have you told about this?" he said.

"Only Kaoru's friends, and people close to us."

"Good. I would advise you to be careful about who knows about this. There are many people in this world who would wish to harm that baby. The first, biological, genetic descendant of a vampire, such a thing would be almost priceless. Be very careful, Himura," warned the Okashira.

"I will be," answered Kenshin, looking at Kaoru, with a weight that carried a threat. It was obvious that any man to even consider a black thought towards his child would be not long for this world.

"Well then, I believe congratulations are in order. I don't know how you did it, but you have somehow defied the laws of nature to become a father. I wish you happiness with it,"

Aoshi extended a hand across the desk and shook Kenshin's formally.

"That being said," he continued. "I do not envy you. I have all that I want, and keeping her alone safe is proving to be quite a challenge. I do not need any further complications."

Though it wasn't on his face, there was a smile in his voice. Kenshin laughed lightly, understanding exactly what Aoshi meant.

They left, both of them getting plenty of hugs from Misao. The visit had cheered both parties up.

"That was nice," said Kaoru, a spring in her step again, as they walked away from the Oniwabanshuu. Kenshin only murmured in reply, thinking about what Aoshi had said.

His baby would be in danger, probably for its entire life. As the only child of a vampire in existence, many people would be interested in it for all kinds of reasons. Scientists would want to find out how it had happened, and how Kenshin's vampirism had been passed on, if at all. Witches might believe the child had magical properties.

Other vampires would want the child for themselves, for the prestige and control it would give them. Werewolves might fear that all vampires would now be able to reproduce and would want to get rid of the evidence, make a statement. And God knows, Battousai had enough personal enemies who would want to hurt them.

Kenshin realized that, apart from their friends and other people they could trust, they would have to keep the baby's parentage a secret. Even after it was born, it would still be in danger. But he would dedicate his life to protecting it. Anyone or anything that wanted to hurt his child would meet with a demon born from the fires of Hell, and that was a promise. He could thank Battousai for doing his worst.

Their next stop was the Akabeko to tell Tae. That went relatively quickly, as she had a lot of customers to take care of. She also didn't ask any of the usual questions. She just hugged Kaoru and congratulated them both and said she was happy for them, then dashed off to deliver some orders.

While they were there, Kaoru figured it would be alright to use the phone, since turning up at the Wolf of Mibu's door unannounced was definitely a bad idea. It was a strange dynamic. Saitoh was still Battousai's enemy, but he was something of a friend to Kenshin since they had fought Shishio together. Getting married mellowed him, if only a very tiny bit.

It was Tokio who answered the phone however, and she gladly invited them over, though Kaoru did catch a snort of derision from Saitoh in the background, so they were able to make the drive there unafraid of what reception they would receive.

Again, Kaoru and Kenshin were ushered into a living room, though this one was a little different, since it featured little Okita playing on a blanket. He looked up as they came in, but went back to his toy when they ignored him. Kaoru told them why they had come.

"Oh, Kaoru, congratulations," said Tokio, "How far along are you?"

"About three months,"

"Urgh," she said, with a knowing look.

"Actually, it hasn't been that bad," Kaoru said with a laugh. It was nice to talk to someone with experience.

"I don't know whether I'm surprised or not, Battousai. You've managed to do something that was supposed to be impossible, but you seem to have a habit of it," said Saitoh.

Kenshin managed a laugh. "I never expected you to have children either, Saitoh," he said. Saitoh chuckled once and dropped his eyes at the memory of how he ended up with a son.

"Touché," he consented. "So, there will soon be a little Battousai around the place, hmm? That'll give Okita something to do," he said with a small smirk.

"Oh, no you don't, Saitoh. I'm not going to let you set our kids against one another," put in Kaoru. "Your own feud with Battousai is enough already."

"Perhaps you're right. Though who knows? Maybe they'll find their own reasons to uphold tradition," said Saitoh.

Tokio had since picked Okita up and sat him in her lap. Kaoru watched them together, looking at the casual, natural way Tokio held him and bounced him on her knee. Kaoru wandered if she'd ever have that. In six months, she'd be finding out. That would be her. It scared her, but at the same time she was looking forward to it.

The little boy gently put a hand on his father's knee and waited politely to be noticed.

"What is it, Okita?" asked Saitoh after a moment.

"Who are they?" said his son quietly, obviously trying not to offend the visitors.

"Remember the stories I told you?" asked Saitoh. "That's Hitokiri Battousai," and he nodded at Kenshin. The boy stared at him, making him feel a little paranoid. "Or at least, he is some of the time, not at the moment."

"Really? What should I do?" asked the little boy with a note of wonder in his voice, obviously concerned with upholding Shinsengumi honour.

"You don't have to do anything for now. Just sit still," Saitoh told him gently.

The wolf turned back to Kenshin. "He knows all about you," he said.

"So I see, I just wonder what exactly you've been telling him," replied Kenshin, guardedly.

"Only the good parts. Nothing from the last hundred years or so," said Saitoh, who then smiled.

After that, Kenshin and Kaoru excused themselves. They still had one stop to make, though Kaoru at least had had more than enough for one night.

They had to walk the last little bit to Hiko's cabin, since the road and all other paths didn't go that far. When he answered the door, he sighed heavily and let them in, never having much time for their drama but knowing it was best to get it over with.

They sat down by the fire pit and Hiko sat opposite, grabbing a sake bottle. Death did not get in the way of his penchant for sake, only now he had to drink it mixed with blood.

"What is it this time?" he said, pulling out the cork with a pop and taking a swig.

Kaoru elbowed Kenshin in the ribs. She was tired of being the one to tell people.

"Well, Shishou, Kaoru's going to have a baby," said Kenshin. Hiko didn't react.

"So?" he said, clearly uninterested, taking another sip from his jug. "What did you expect? She's only human, of course she's going to want the human things in life. She's only got one life to live, might as well let her live it. You can't give her children, it's only natural that she would go elsewhere. But why do you think I care? If she's been unfaithful to you, that's your problem."

He froze, the jug tilted up to his lips, as something occurred to him, and he fixed a piercing glare on Kenshin.

"You're not trying to make me godfather or something, are you? I'm not looking after it. I looked after you, that was enough to last me a life time," he said, moving again, and drinking from the bottle. They seemed to have caught him at a bad time, right in the middle of a major sake bender.

"Er, no, Shishou, that's not why we're here. Kaoru wasn't unfaithful. It's my child," spoke Kenshin.

"No, it's not," replied Hiko casually.

"I know it's supposed to be impossible. That's why we thought you'd like to know. It _is_ my baby," continued Kenshin.

"Don't be ridiculous, Kenshin, obviously it's not your baby, it can't be," argued Hiko.

"It _is_ my baby,"

"No, it's not,"

"Yes it is,"

"Are you arguing with me?" Hiko threatened, giving him a warning look that was meant to remind Kenshin what happens when you argue with your Shishou.

"Excuse me, Hiko-san, but Kenshin _is_ the father," said Kaoru, trying to be respectful now that the insufferable man was like her father-in-law.

Hiko raised an eyebrow at her, obviously saying that she would be the last person he'd believe. After all, if she had been unfaithful, which she must have been, and she was trying to hide the fact from Kenshin, of course she would lie.

"Shishou, how can we convince you?" asked Kenshin diplomatically, looking for a solution instead of an argument.

"If that baby has fangs and drinks blood, I'll believe you," he said, pointing at Kaoru's stomach casually while tipping the jug again, quickly.

"Fine, then I guess we'll be seeing you in six months," said Kaoru stubbornly, getting to her feet. Kenshin followed her. Obviously they didn't know what the baby would be like when it was born, in fact they were hoping that it didn't have fangs and drink blood, but Kaoru really wanted to stick it to Hiko.

"Don't bother me again unless it's _actually_ important," was Hiko's goodbye, as he took another swig from the jug.

Finally the night was over. They could go home. Kaoru was looking forward to it, because tomorrow she had to get back to work. She'd promised that vampire kid she'd fix whatever was wrong with his master, but she'd done nothing for three weeks. She might be carrying the world's first vampire baby, but hell on Earth was about to break loose with the start of a new Bakumatsu, and she had a responsibility to the people of Tokyo. It was time to earn her big fat government pay check.


	10. The Secret

Chapter 10

Megumi was in the infirmary again, sitting in her office, staring at the paperwork dealing with Kaoru's pregnancy. The doctor was starting to be swept up in the giddiness of it, and she too was now excited about the baby, and looking forward to Kaoru and Kenshin becoming a family. But when she was alone, as she was now, with just the bare facts in front of her, it was strange, just _so strange_. The child Kaoru was carrying wasn't behaving like a textbook pregnancy, but it wasn't so far outside the limits of normalcy that Megumi felt she had to mention it to Kaoru. The older woman knew it would just upset her. But still, the signs were there that this baby wouldn't be a hundred percent human, and as a doctor, that was cause for concern.

Megumi put the papers down and shook her head. The whole thing just had to be chalked up to a medical miracle – if it really _was_ Kenshin's child, of course.

Kaoru and Kenshin had revealed the secret of the pregnancy a couple of nights ago. It had taken Sano quite off-guard, and he had had a million questions for her once the couple had left their apartment. Now however, it was time to call Dr Gensai and get him involved. Megumi had no experience dealing with babies, she only knew what she'd learned in medical school, and none of her lectures had covered the supernatural. Dr Gensai, however, was the Dojo's original physician, he had worked with Kaoru's father for decades, so he was possibly the only person likely to be of any help in this situation. He had retired years ago, but he had always kept himself available if the Dojo needed him.

Megumi dug her address book out of the drawer and found his number. She waited while it rang, wondering what kind of state the old man was in these days. She hadn't seen him since he had put those wolves back together three years ago.

"Hello?" The phone was answered by Dr Gensai's warm and cheery voice, perpetually curious and muffled with age but you always thought it was because of his bushy moustache.

"Dr Gensai? It's Megumi Takani, from the Dojo."

"Oh hellooooo, Dr Takani!" Megumi always liked him for calling her 'Doctor' even though she was about forty years his junior. No one else paid much attention to her title around here. "How are you? Is this call for business or pleasure?" he said, and chuckled to himself. Not for the first time, Megumi thought that if he hadn't become a doctor, he would have made a good Santa.

"Just business, Doctor. I have a case here you might be interested in. It's giving me a little trouble, and I was wondering if you could come down and consult?" Megumi asked. It was always so nice talking to another doctor, something she didn't get to do very often. It was a huge part of her life that she didn't have in common with anyone else in the Dojo.

"Oh, certainly, certainly! Is it anything serious?"

"Potentially. It's sort of... a first."

"Sounds interesting! Anyone I know?"

Megumi could hear that she had the old man hook, line and sinker. He loved a good medical challenge, especially now that he had retired and was probably getting a bit bored. She hesitated to tell him who the subject of their discussion was though, knowing how it would worry him.

"Actually, yes. It's, er, Kaoru," said Megumi, wincing at his immediate concern.

"Goodness! What's the matter with her?"

"She's pregnant, but-"

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? Tell her congratulations from me!"

"I will, but you see, the reason I need your help is that the father, he's, well... he's a vampire." Megumi braced herself for the scepticism she was certain would follow.

There was a long pause. "Is he now?" Dr Gensai asked again, his voice flatter, colder.

"I know what you're thinking, but Kaoru insists Kenshin is the father, so we have to proceed as if that's the case. And so far, while it isn't much, there has been some... irregularities. So I was hoping you could come down and give me a hand, advise on how we should proceed."

When Dr Gensai didn't answer, and there was nothing but a worrying silence on the other line, Megumi worried that she was missing something, that she had offended him somehow, but casting her mind back, she couldn't recall anything would mean the doctor had a problem with the situation. He had worked with the supernatural for more years than she had lived.

"Dr Gensai? Are you alright?" she asked, anxious.

"Does he bite her?" he asked suddenly.

"What?" Megumi was taken off guard.

"Does the vampire bite her - Kaoru? Does he feed from her?"

"Well, yes, sometimes. But it's always consensual," Megumi replied. She had had trouble accepting that herself when she had first learned of that development in Kaoru and Kenshin's relationship, when Kaoru had come to her sheepishly needing a blood transfusion. But she was learning not to meddle in other people's business, to respect their decisions, and to trust her friends to know what they could handle and when to ask for help.

There was a world-weary sigh on the other end of the line, as if Dr Gensai's lungs were being compressed like bellows by the weight of some great secret that had finally slipped from its perch on his shoulders after sitting there for many years. It made the hair on Megumi's neck stand up, as if his breath had actually come through the receiver.

"I will come down there tonight. There is something... something I think you all need to know," he said.

"O-Okay..." Megumi wondered what she had unearthed so unintentionally.

They hung up, and Megumi rocked in her reclining chair for a moment. Then she compulsively picked up the documents she had been reading earlier and looked at them again, trying to read between the lines of black print and discover what she couldn't see.

oOo

Kaoru was sitting at her regular booth at the Akabeko, looking around her at the customers and chewing her lip thoughtfully. She had thrown herself into her work to make up for the time she had been pre-occupied with her pregnancy. She had collected intel from all her contacts both above and underground, in all the realms of the supernatural community. But the most she got from anyone was a blurry outside picture of what was going on, she had no one on the inside. Humans, witches, werewolves, vampires – none of them had been able to give her that one little insight she needed to blow the whole thing wide open.

There were disappearances, murders, thefts, trafficking, people acting strangely with no explanation, but it was difficult to separate the usual criminal goings-on from the case she was interested in. The vampires felt as if they were being preyed upon by some sort of demon, a mysterious and elusive force that robbed them of their free will, while the werewolves were convinced that was just a weak smokescreen to cover what they were really doing, and the witches swore up and down that they weren't doing anything, and that it was impossible anyway to do what the vampires were describing. It was a volatile time. If Kaoru couldn't make the vampires feel protected, while making the werewolves feel that the vampires were being controlled, things could get very ugly, very quickly.

But she had no real leads. All she had were rumours, speculations, smoke-and-mirror stuff. She needed something concrete and soon. The logical step would be to talk to one of the vampires who had been "possessed", but they either couldn't be found, couldn't remember anything, or were too afraid or proud to discuss their experience. They couldn't afford to appear weak, or another master might swoop in and take their estates and clans.

It was frustrating to say the least. Kaoru had told that young vamp who had sought her out that she would help him. Saitoh was reporting that pack alphas were putting pressure on drifters and strays to take sides and declare allegiances. Even he, the Mibu Wolf, had had it implied to him that he should sever his ties with the Dojo and the outside world in order to defend the side of the werewolves. Lines were being drawn all over the city, battle plans were being formulated, and it was Kaoru's job to stop it, and so far, she didn't even understand what was causing the problem.

She knew she should be dedicating every waking moment to bringing peace back to Tokyo, but on a personal level, she was also becoming the mother to the very first vampire child. That came with a crazy level of stress on its own, and she knew it would soon keep her from doing her job properly. Kenshin had already discussed with her the need to keep the baby a secret from the supernatural world at large. A lot of people knew that the Hitokiri Battousai had returned, and was living with the head of the Dojo, and there was speculation that they were in a relationship since the hitokiri hadn't just massacred the entire compound. It was dangerous for her to be seen once her pregnancy started to show.

She would have to delegate the investigation to her friends and colleagues. Sano could talk to the strays while Saitoh kept tabs on the packs, Oz and Tokio could mingle with the magical community, and she would have to ask Kenshin to probe into the vampire underground. He didn't do much fieldwork, especially not with other vampires, as his past made things... complicated, but when it came to extracting information, maybe the memory of Battousai would be a help to them. In the gathering aura of another Bakumatsu, the vampires may be inclined to welcome him as their defender. It was just one more thing she would have to consider.

Kaoru frowned. It wasn't in her nature to make other people do her work for her, or to take a backseat when her city needed her. They would be bitter months that she would be confined to the Dojo. She would have to transfer her responsibilities in another night or two, since the baby was growing like crazy - freakishly fast. A week ago he had been worryingly small for his age, but at this rate he would soon be big for it. Megumi theorised that the combination of human growth patterns and a vampire's physical arrest resulted in a baby that didn't grow - like its father - most of the time, but went through accelerated growth spurts, growing as fast as a vampire heals to progress past what was normal for its age before stagnating again. This meant that they couldn't even predict how long the pregnancy would last. She could be giving birth next month, or next year.

And with the rapid growth, she had finally got the other symptoms of pregnancy, the sickness, aches and pains, and other assorted joys. It really was fast becoming the time to throw in the towel.

oOo

When Dr Gensai arrived at the infirmary, he quizzed Megumi relentlessly on every aspect of Kaoru's pregnancy, and then on her relationship with Kenshin, which made Megumi feel a little uncomfortable. He read all the reports while Megumi waited nervously to find out what the thing they all needed to know was. She knew the old man saw Kaoru as something of a granddaughter, but she hadn't expected him to scrutinise her relationship with such a disapproving eye.

Eventually, he sighed again and asked her to organise a consultation with both Kaoru and Kenshin.

Kenshin, she knew, was in the building, so she asked him to come to the infirmary with Kaoru when her shift at the Akabeko ended. Megumi didn't want to alarm the couple, so she implied that it was just to meet Dr Gensai, and to give him the chance to congratulate them and get to know Kenshin.

When the couple walked in hand-in-hand, Kaoru grinned at the sight of her old friend and went to greet him, while Kenshin hung back at a respectful distance. Dr Gensai returned Kaoru's hug stiffly, his eyes on the vampire over the girl's shoulder.

"I'm so glad you could come and help us, Dr Gensai," Kaoru said sweetly, separating from the hug.

"Well, when Dr Takani told me you were pregnant with a vampire's child, I felt I had to," the man replied, then he paused as his expression turned serious. "There's something I feel you need to know, child," he said.

Kaoru's face fell and the familiar, cold fear that had been plaguing her ever since she discovered her pregnancy returned. More bad news? Something else to worry about? Why couldn't things get easier, why did they always have to get harder? She glanced at Megumi, but nothing in the other woman's face suggested she knew what was coming.

The doctor continued. "I don't know what this has to do with your pregnancy, or your... relationship, if anything at all, but it might also explain everything. Your father made me swear never to pass on what I'm about to tell you, and indeed, as a doctor, it goes against my professional ethics, but in this... completely unexpected and unpredictable situation, I feel that knowledge and the truth are the best weapons against uncertainty."

"My father?" Kaoru said, surprised. She had no idea what kind of secret the doctor was talking about, but his gravity of expression made her apprehensive. This looked serious.

Megumi was also intrigued, but she stayed quiet, knowing better than to involve herself in what seemed to be a personal revelation of Kaoru's.

Dr Gensai sighed heavily and ran his hand over his face roughly, temporarily obscuring his expression. He was sitting behind Megumi's desk in her office, while Kaoru and Kenshin sat opposite, and Megumi leaned against the wall to the side.

"I don't even know where to begin. Kaoru, how much do you know about your mother's death?" he asked, as if the words were difficult to speak.

Kaoru flinched. Her mother had died when she was six, and she still missed her sometimes, even though she couldn't really remember much of her. She had photos of course, and her father had told her about her, but she didn't have any clear memories of her own. She had survived with only her father, and after he had died as well, and now she couldn't imagine how different her life would be if they were still alive.

"She had blood disease, anaemia," Kaoru replied warily. That was how her father had explained it to a six year old girl. She didn't really want to discuss this in front of Megumi and Kenshin. She knew it was stupid, but she didn't want them to see her weaknesses, her grief.

Dr Gensai looked at her seriously, warning her that she was about to hear something she probably wouldn't want to. "I'm afraid that's not the truth, Kaoru. That was what we told you to protect your mother's memory in your eyes. Your father didn't want you to think less of her, and made me promise to uphold his story. The truth is, your mother had... an addiction." The old man looked as if he was feeling an old but acute ache as he spoke. It was clear that it was costing him a lot to break his promise.

"An addiction? To what?" Kaoru asked, needing to know but not wanting to.

Dr Gensai's reply fell like a boulder between them.

"Vampires."

There was a long pause as everyone in the room was stunned into silence. Only Megumi's medical mind was able to predict what would come next, and she exhaled quietly through her nose in anticipation of how conflicted her friend was going to be feeling at the end of this.

"Vampires?" Kaoru, repeated when she was ready to continue.

Dr Gensai's eyes flicked to Kenshin. "Yes. You know a vampire's bite contains endorphins? I'm sorry but, I asked Dr Takani to explain your relationship with... with Himura-san to me, and I must admit, I don't like it. You will understand why in a moment but, first of all, confirm for me that you have shared blood with him," he said.

Kaoru had hardened when the doctor had stated that he opposed her relationship with Kenshin. She had been defending it to others less and less over the last three years as her friends all got used to it and learned that Kenshin was not a typical vampire, but she bridled again at this display of prejudice.

Kenshin, on the other hand, despaired that even now he was seen as a threat, as something that didn't belong, only an imposter in the role of a lover, but also because he sensed that the man was about to confirm that his vampirism endangered the baby with irrefutable medical evidence.

Kaoru's voice was hard and clipped. "Yes, I share blood with Kenshin," she challenged.

Dr Gensai sighed through his nose in what might have been disapproval or regret. "I see. The reason I ask is because that was your mother's addiction. Because of your father's line of work, she had ample access to many vampires, and after what I assume was a non-consensual attack, she became addicted to their bites, and began to seek them out of her own free will. I had to perform blood transfusions for her many times over the years.

"Like any addict, her own safety became of secondary concern to her. Your father begged her to stop, he even tried confining her to their apartment, but it only drove her to further lengths of secrecy and deceit. It broke his heart. But there was one time when she was able to control herself, when she didn't look for a vampire to take blood from her – it was when she was pregnant with you, Kaoru. She fought her addiction to protect you while you were still growing inside her."

Kaoru was stunned, appalled. How could her mother have been addicted to vampire endorphins? How could Kaoru have missed that? How could she have believed a lie for eighteen years?

Dr Gensai continued. It seemed that now he had started, the words were flowing out on their own, and they wouldn't stop until he was done. "That being said, there were occasions during your gestation that she... fell off the wagon, shall we say. The poor thing, she tried so hard, but she just couldn't fight it for nine months. She did her best, you have to understand that, Kaoru. It wasn't that she didn't care about you, she _did_, she would have allowed any damage to come to herself to keep you safe... but she wasn't strong like your father was, like you are.

"She gave in, three times during her pregnancy in fact. Your father was furious, we all worried about what effect the blood loss and vampire endorphins would have on your development. It made her sick with herself. But you seemed to be a normal, healthy baby, and you never showed any sign of having been affected by the bites growing up. And once you were born, your mother returned to her old habits, and your father let her. He had you to look after instead, and personally, I don't think he could ever forgive your mother for endangering you through her own temptation. Eventually, the continued blood loss took its toll on her body, and she died."

Dr Gensai finished his story. He looked drained by the experience. Kaoru felt a little sick. She couldn't believe that story was true, but she couldn't see why Dr Gensai would lie, and if it _was_ true... Was she following in her mother's footsteps? Kaoru knew how powerful a vampire's bite could be - she knew very well. Even sitting in the infirmary office, she could recall how it felt when Battousai sunk his fangs into her with raw passion, how it made her heart race and her eyes roll, how it made every nerve in her body feel alive, like her life depended on Battousai's hold on her and the pull of his lips...

But did that make her an addict? She hadn't even known such a thing was possible, and now she was scared. She would have been much more careful if she had known she could become a slave to her lover's bite. Obviously, she had been careful enough not to risk her life, not sharing blood with him more often than her body could handle, but aside from that, she had gone into it with abandon. Her relationship with Battousai seemed more important at the time, and she hadn't realised she had been risking her mental independence. She supposed that, since she had followed her father's footsteps into her current position as head of the Dojo, it was not so strange that she had fallen in love with a supernatural being, and vampires were not in such a minority that it was odd that it had turned out to be a vampire rather than, say, a werewolf, and dating a vampire, it was not unusual that she allowed him to bite her either.

Or maybe it was destiny? Maybe she had been doomed from her birth to enjoy a vampire's bite?

She didn't want that to be all her relationship with Kenshin was. She knew she loved him, but now the seed of doubt had been sowed...

And what about her mother? The woman might have been dead for most of Kaoru's life, but she still loved her. But now it seemed it was her own fault that she hadn't been around. She hadn't bothered to live to look after her daughter. That made Kaoru angry, which in turn made her feel guilty. If her mother was an addict, she had needed help, not scorn and blame. And her father too, he hadn't tried hard enough to save his wife's life. Kaoru supposed that everybody must eventually confront the truth that their parents had lives of their own that went beyond the role of care-giver, but this was a darker truth than Kaoru could ever have predicted.

Kenshin was fighting the urge to take Kaoru in his arms. He knew she preferred to maintain a strong and professional image, but he could also imagine how conflicted she must be feeling. He had known that some humans became addicted to vampire bites, but he had only ever seen such people as the strung-out, skeletal junkies that littered the dens of vampires who had fallen by the wayside themselves. He had never thought of them as women such as Kaoru's mother must have been, nor as Kaoru herself. It had never occurred to him that Kaoru could become addicted to him, or more accurately, to Battousai. He supposed he had never had to think about it, since he knew he could always control how much he took from her, but the story of the wife deceiving her husband, so desperate for a fix that she would even endanger her unborn child, chilled him. Yet he knew it would do no good to try to relate any of his concerns to Battousai. If anything, the hitokiri was likely to relish any opportunity to gain power over Kaoru.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kaoru asked. She sounded tired and hurt underneath her flat emotionless tones.

"Well, I'm sure Dr Takani has told you that to conceive from a vampire is supposed to be impossible," Dr Gensai replied.

"I think I heard something like that," Kaoru answered with a touch of sarcasm that was uncharacteristic for her, and which Kenshin recognised as a signal of her inner turmoil.

"I thought it best that we consider the possibility that the uniqueness of this event has more to do with you than with Himura-san, that maybe you were affected by the vampire endorphins in your mother's womb after all. Is it not the case that you created a bond between the two of you early in your relationship? That is something else that would be unexpected of any normal human being. If you want your baby to live, we need to consider everything, even that you might be... special," Dr Gensai said cryptically.

Kaoru felt a headache coming on. She took a large breath, then let it out slowly, looking at Kenshin. His violet eyes were concerned and supportive as usual.

"So you're saying I might not be entirely human?" Kaoru verified. It seemed like her world was going to complete a 180 degree turn before the end of the evening.

"It's possible that you have... a little something extra, yes."

"So is this good or bad a far as the baby is concerned?"

"Good, I should think. You are human enough to reproduce, but your genetic material is able to bond with Himura-san's. Personally, I predict a baby that will be healthy for its kind, whatever that means," the doctor said.

Kaoru was relieved. "That's good news. As long as our baby is alright, the 'how' doesn't really matter."

"There is one more thing, Kaoru." Dr Gensai looked solemn again. "Your mother's involvement with vampires killed her. I hope you appreciate the dangers of it now, but from what I've learned from Dr Takani, I don't honestly expect you to separate from Himura-san. But for me, your relationship with him is just too similar, I cannot support it. I cannot stay here and watch, I hope you understand. I can continue to advise Dr Takani if she needs me, but I recommend you find another doctor to help you full-time. I will not, it just doesn't feel right. I'm sorry."

Kaoru was surprised; she hadn't expected Dr Gensai of all people to be prejudiced against vampires, but she could see where he was coming from. He wouldn't be able to watch her with Kenshin without reliving everything he'd been through with her parents. She knew the old man cared for her, and he didn't want to make himself a negative presence in her life. Kaoru just hoped that they would be able to remain friends in the future.

"Alright Dr Gensai," she said professionally. "I understand. Perhaps you can help Megumi in finding someone suitable."

They stood up as Kaoru spoke and shook hands. Kenshin recognised that they were leaving and stood up also. Before they left, he bowed to Dr Gensai and said, "Thank you for your help, Doctor, I am grateful. I would also like you to know that I have only Kaoru's best interests at heart, and that I would never do anything to harm her."

Dr Gensai looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded at Kenshin, though he didn't speak or give any indication that he recanted. The couple left after that, returning to their apartment to rest and process all they had heard.

Megumi stood up straight. "So you're not staying?" she confirmed.

"No, but if you still need help, I've heard good things about a wolf who runs a clinic in the city, maybe you've heard of him?" replied the old man. "His name is Takeda Kanryuu."


	11. Fathers' Duty

Chapter 11

Kenshin was dreaming again.

He woke up in a bed that he didn't recognise wasn't his own, and reached happily for Kaoru beside him. He wrapped his arm around her waist under the covers, and pulled her close, snuggling his face into her hair as she lay on her side, facing away from him. He had expected this to wake her up, but when she didn't move, he finally felt how frozen and hard she felt under his arm, as if she was carved out of stone, when she was normally so warm and soft.

He shot up in a flash, terrified his worst fears had come true, and at that moment, he was able to see her face. Kaoru's skin was a dead, greyish white, her expression stretched into a grimace of pain, her blank, opaque eyes open and staring. Kenshin panicked, throwing back the covers, adding even more horror to the image as he discovered the ocean of drying blood that stained everything below her waist.

"No..." Kenshin moaned with an inhuman sound, as if it had been ground out of him by the weight of the agony. He reached out to touch her face, but the blood was on his hands. He tried to wipe them clean on his hakama, but saw that they too were saturated. He scrambled off the bed, staring at the gory contents and panicking over what he would do next, how he could ever possibly even_ begin_ to exist without her.

Then Kaoru's head slowly revolved to look at him over her shoulder, her dead, yellowing eyes catching his, the scene splintering his sanity. He felt a scream bubble in his throat.

"Kenshin..." she whined in pain, "It hurts..." She rolled onto her back and he saw that she was clutching her stomach, and the large bump the baby made there.

Kenshin calmed a little. She was alive? Everything was still alright, she was alive! But she didn't look it. She was still ghostly white, paler even than he was, with black shadows around her mouth, nose and eyes, her cheeks sunken. And her eyes weren't glistening blue, but filmy and decayed.

"Kaoru?..." Kenshin spoke hesitantly, approaching the bed and climbing onto the mattress, regardless of the blood. If she had survived the miscarriage, and she was in pain, she needed him.

She cried out and hunched over her stomach. Breathing hard, she lifted her shirt, exposing her bloated stomach. Even that managed to look skeletal somehow, far from the round, healthy, fertile mound it should have been. It looked scratched and bruised, and as he watched, fixated, the skin stretched as if pushed from the inside. Kaoru screamed again, but Kenshin couldn't look away from her stomach. The grey skin turned white where it was being extended, stretching further away from Kaoru's body than he thought possible, and it moved, indicating it was being done by something alive on the inside.

Finally it split, and a tiny, thin white hand popped through. No more blood came from the wound, only a thick yellow pus. Kenshin jerked back, his eyes still riveted to the performance before him as a small wasted creature dug its way out of its mother.

Looking at it, he knew it wasn't human. It could barely even be called a baby. It had none of the peachy, cuddly plump innocence of a newborn – instead, it was white and bony, its features sharp and evil-looking, expressing an unnatural self-awareness. It was grinning as it lifted its legs out of the mauled meat of Kaoru's body and snapped its umbilical cord between sharp fully-formed teeth, each one like a tiny razor.

Then the thing looked up at Kenshin as if it had known he was there and expected him to be proud. It hopped down onto the bed and walked towards him, the cord hanging from its belly trailing between its legs and smearing the yellow ooze across the sheets. Kenshin shuffled away from it; he wanted to kick it, but he was too reluctant to touch it at all.

"Oh, Kenshin, isn't he wonderful?" Kaoru spoke dreamily from her reclined position on the bed, her hands calmly folded over the gaping hole of her torso. She was looking at them as if this was some touching father/son moment.

Kenshin spared her a glance before returning his eyes to the infant, not allowing it out of his sight. Was Kaoru _pleased_ with this thing? Was she _happy_ with it? Could it be that her maternal instincts even extended to such a monster? Would he have to love it for her sake? What a family they would make, a zombie mother, a demon child, and a horrified, trapped, vampire father.

But what else could he have expected? It was _his_ son, how could it have ever turned out normal, to bring happiness to those around it? This was how it was always going to be, and while he could see the monstrosity of it, Kaoru had demonstrated during her pregnancy her fierce determination to protect and love the child, no matter how it turned out. This horror was his fate, and it was his fault.

oOo

Tokio heard Saitoh's keys rattle in the front door, but she didn't put down her scrying tools. She'd been trying for about an hour to find out something useful that could help her husband and Kaoru with their case of mysterious vampire possession, but for some reason her clairvoyancy was failing her in a way it never had before. She was using meditation to scan the city for any strange supernatural forces, but something was off somehow. It was like her concentration was being artificially weakened whenever she tried to look closer at anything suspicious. After an hour of constant interruptions, the best she had was the impression that certain areas of the city, or certain people such as the victims, had a funny look about them.

It wasn't much to go on, and definitely not anything worth relating to Saitoh, but she thought that sometimes when she looked at something, it was like she was looking at a painting. The things she was focusing on looked distorted, as if they were underwater. She had no idea what could be interfering with her magic like that, and she would certainly be asking her coven if they saw the same thing when they scryed for the victims. It was only a very subtle effect, not something you would notice unless you were concentrating very hard on it. She might have said it was the fading traces of magic, but it was much too artful, much too deliberate. And she had found one victim who appeared to be walking in his own portable darkness, as if a malevolent presence surrounded him, but that too was very faint. The main problem was that she could see these things, but there was nothing for her to feel, there was no magical presence, and that was impossible to erase.

It wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before. It quite clearly wasn't vampire or werewolf behaviour, and no lesser magical creatures had the power or the interest to do anything like this, and usually when those categories were ruled out, the conclusion was that it must be a witch, but Tokio had never heard of any magic like this. The portrait and underwater effects could be extremely advanced, or extremely archaic spells to disguise magic, but the darkness was new. And even if it was a witch, that just led Tokio back to the absolute fact that it was _impossible_ for a witch to possess a vampire.

As Saitoh walked into the kitchen where she sat at the table, she finally sighed in defeat and gave up, frustrated at having spent over an hour going round in circles. She opened her eyes and tilted her face for her mate's greeting kiss.

"Did you find anything today?" she asked, standing up to talk to him as the officer began looking for food in the cupboards. He would want to eat a lot before going out for the full moon tonight. She began making some old fashioned tea for them, just the way he liked it.

"No, nobody knows anything and even if they did, they're all too paranoid to talk," Saitoh replied.

"I've been scrying this afternoon, but something's interfering with it, it's so strange," she said for her own ears as well as his.

"Who could do that?"

"Well, I've never seen it done this way before, but if they're trying to keep their magic from being seen, I'd have to say a witch, but they can't be the one interfering with the vampires like that."

"So maybe whoever it is has a witch helping them?" suggested Saitoh. He had little experience with witches and magic, so talking through a case like this with his wife could be a great help.

"I suppose, but that still leaves us with the problem of who the mastermind is, and what they're trying to accomplish. None of the covens nearby use magic like that, and none of the rogues or solitary witches are anywhere near that powerful," Tokio said.

She handed Saitoh a cup of the tea while he looked thoughtful, and when he took it he seemed to decide to change the subject.

"How's Okita been today?" he asked.

"He came down with a bit of a fever so he's in bed early," she answered. Despite his werewolf father, her son still got the same sniffles and colds as any other child, he just healed them a lot faster.

"A fever? Is he alright?"

"Oh yes, he's fine, it's probably just one those things."

Saitoh nodded and took his tea into the living room to drink. Tokio followed him, ready to watch the news with him and relax, as they usually did in the evening.

However, half an hour later, little Okita left his bedroom and toddled out to the living room, his tired eyes blinking from the comparatively bright light. Tokio and Saitoh heard him coming in that ever-alert way that parents have, instantly looking to him in concern.

"Mommy, my head hurts," he said pathetically, rubbing his eyes, and Tokio's heart almost broke at the scene.

"Aww, come here, baby," she said, extending her arms to him, and he eagerly crossed the room and crawled into her lap, cuddling up against her.

Saitoh meanwhile put his hand to his son's forehead, and his eyes widened in alarm. "Tokio," he said, getting her to feel it too.

She gasped, "He's burning up! I don't understand it, he was fine a couple of hours ago!" Instantly concerned, she gave the boy to his father and jumped up to get a thermometer and medicine. Okita started crying, sniffling into Saitoh's jacket, as the man rocked him absent-mindedly.

Tokio returned and quickly took his temperature with the digital thermometer they had added to their possessions when Okita was born. When she saw the result she almost screamed, "Oh my God! Look at this!" She hurriedly showed it to Saitoh.

"He shouldn't even be conscious with a temperature like that!" the man responded, deeply concerned but also puzzled. This shouldn't be happening to the son of a werewolf, they didn't get dangerously sick like this.

"My tummy hurts too," offered Okita, freeing his face from the now wet fabric of his father's uniform to look at his parents, who were trying hard not to scare him while on the inside they were freaking out.

"Don't worry, Okita, it's okay, everything will be alright," Tokio told him, trying to reassure herself in the process. At least if he was still talking coherently, then it couldn't be too bad, could it? "I'll go run him a cold bath," she said, leaping up again, but before she left the room, Saitoh called her back.

"Tokio," he said, his voice sounding strange. It had lost the edge of panic, but had gained a new flat resignation. It did nothing to comfort her. She raced back to the couch, dreading what he had found.

Her mate had lifted their son's pyjama top to look at the hurting stomach, and what they saw there explained everything. His stomach was growing a fine, black fur.

"What? But he's too young to change! He's only two years old!" the woman cried in surprise.

Saitoh shrugged. "It's different for everyone," he said. Logically, his brain was telling him that everything would be fine now, that his son wasn't sick, just growing into his rightful nature, that children had their first change when their bodies were ready for it, so Okita wasn't in any danger. However he couldn't stop himself being scared for his son, who still seemed like a baby to him, who was so little and very young.

Tokio came back and sat down next to him, taking Okita into her lap. She probed his ki, and found that it was in fact fluctuating wildly, jumping all over the place, like a feral animal trying to escape its bonds. But she couldn't find an underlying wolf ki which would have made her feel better.

Because they thought they had years before Okita's first change, they hadn't quite explained to him that he was a werewolf. He knew the word, he knew his father was one, and he knew what a wolf was, but they didn't think he understood that werewolves were people who could transform into wolves. It looked like they were going to have to give him a crash course now, and try and keep him from getting too scared.

"Do you want to explain to him?" Tokio asked her husband, since this was squarely in his area of expertise.

"Okita? Listen to me, you're not sick right now, what's happening to you right now is normal, so you don't have to be afraid. You know those stories I tell you, about werewolves, and vampires? You're becoming a werewolf," Saitoh said in a clear voice, hoping to make his boy understand through his headache.

"Like you, Daddy?" the toddler replied, his eyes half-closed.

Saitoh was relieved he understood so easily, and his son's words made affection swell in his chest. "Yes, exactly, like me. You're going to turn into a little wolf, just for tonight. You should be proud, you're a member of the Shinsengumi pack, don't forget."

"Shinsen...gumi..." he repeated, before putting his little hand to his head and screwing his face up in pain, lying down against Tokio's legs so that the tears ran sidewise from his eyes.

"I'm going to try to lessen his pain," Tokio said, unable to see her infant son like that. Concentrating carefully, she used her magic to lessen the tension in his head and stomach, and anywhere else she detected. She also did her best to smooth his ki without hindering the transformation, letting the wolf energy come forward as much as it wanted to, without drawing it out or pushing it down at all. It seemed to work, because Okita relaxed, removing his hand from his head and opening his eyes again. The fur began to spread more quickly and evenly.

Saitoh took off his jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Tokio asked him.

"I'm going to be there for my son. My change will probably help his, and he won't be as confused and scared if my wolf form is there to reassure him," Saitoh explained, and as he began working on his belt, Tokio understood and stripped the boy of his pyjamas. The little baby feet she had loved so much were already more like paws on the end of crooked animal legs.

"Give him to me," Saitoh said, and his wife passed their son over. Saitoh held the boy to his bare chest, and slid off the sofa onto the floor. With one hand carefully supporting Okita who was instinctively clinging to his father, the Wolf got onto all fours, lowering Okita to the floor beneath him.

Changing was easy for Saitoh, who'd been doing it for over two hundred years, since he was a child. He was more a wolf than a human. However, he knew that if he was going to try to influence his son's change, it wouldn't work if he transformed as quickly as he normally did, in a matter of seconds.

He found the wolf ki inside him, and reached out to the toddler's erratic energy that was trying to take shape, then slowly began his own change to see if he could in fact bring his son over the threshold with him. It seemed to be working, as he sensed Okita's ill-defined wolf ki becoming clearer and stronger.

"Try to focus on me, Okita, don't fight it," he said to his son, who nodded weakly and whimpered where he lay curled up in a ball, always wanting to please his dad.

It was distracting to try and keep up the connection with Okita while shifting, but his wolf was close to the surface thanks to the full moon and ever-ready to come out. He managed to slow his transformation down enough to successfully pull Okita with him, though it hurt the boy, and soon Tokio was looking at a daunting black wolf with narrow yellow eyes, standing over a little grey and black fluffball still cowering on the floor. She was relieved the ordeal was over and her little boy shouldn't be in pain anymore.

Saitoh gently nuzzled his son's puppy-like form, smelling him and trying to get him on his feet with a few parental licks. Eventually the boy did manage to stagger up onto his shaky legs and he turned around to face Saitoh, blinking his mother's red eyes at the much larger wolf. Saitoh quickly lay down to put himself more on a level with Okita and hopefully be less intimidating. He put his muzzle to the tiny wolf's face and inhaled, and the boy learnt his father's scent as well with adorable little sniffs.

Tokio joined them on the floor, kneeling next to her mate, and extending her hand to her son. She wanted to touch him, but Saitoh had made sure she had more class than to pet a werewolf like a dog, so she was unsure. But Okita stumbled towards her and put two little paws in her lap, his fluffy tail wagging ever so slightly, so she ran her hands down his back and was able to smile again. Her son was just fine, and now she wasn't worrying anymore, she was proud of him.

Although Saitoh's powerful animal muscles were straining to run and hunt, he stayed in the apartment that night, compassionately leading Okita through all his new discoveries, tempting him into walking, jumping and running, though the vocal lesson had to be abandoned since the boy's high-pitched rattling growls and tinny yaps were not exactly fitting for the Shinsengumi just yet.

Little Okita was soon exhausted, and fell asleep in his mother's lap after only an hour or two, so Saitoh was free to go out to the forest and terrorise small creatures and lesser wolves without a pack. It was the first time in a very long time that he wished he could talk in wolf form for, while he usually was grateful for the escape from the pointless noise in the human world, tonight he wanted to brag about his two year old son making his first change, much younger than the average age, which clearly meant he was going to grow up to be a powerful wolf.

oOo

With a bit of rearranging, Kaoru had managed to organise the apartment so that they wouldn't have to move when the baby came. Tonight, they were redecorating Yahiko's old room-slash-study-slash-storage room and turning it into a nursery. Well, truthfully, Kenshin was doing everything. Whenever he saw Kaoru about to move a piece of furniture, climb a ladder or lift a paintbrush, he thought of the baby and rushed to take over. This was beginning to frustrate Kaoru, but she was also mindful of the baby's health, and she was just happy to be able to do something with Kenshin in the midst of the recent chaos. So she just watched from the middle of the empty room as her lover painted the wall a pale yellow, looking very pretty by Kenshin's eyes in an old shirt beginning to stretch over her growing belly, jeans, and her hair in scraggly bun.

They had decided on the colour as a nice, cheerful colour that was gender neutral, as they didn't yet know the sex of the baby. Kaoru also liked the suggestion of sunlight it gave – she had worried about giving a child a room without a window in an apartment underground, but then she had remembered that her baby might be sunlight-intolerant, making a window dangerous.

Kenshin, meanwhile, had no objections to doing all the work. He liked working with his hands, and it wasn't as if the work was going to make him tired. The smell of the paint was a bit strong for his sensitive vampire nose, but Kaoru had brought in some fans to ventilate the room. He too was enjoying the simple time spent with Kaoru. Seeing her smile made him feel better about the dreams he was having. Remembering them, he frowned, turning away from Kaoru so she wouldn't see. He hadn't told her about the nightmares, not wanting to worry her, or add to her burdens. He knew how stressed and busy she was with the baby and the tensions in the city.

Kenshin had no idea what was causing the nightmares. Vampires weren't supposed to be able to dream, and he never had before, but then they weren't supposed to be able to father children either. He considered the possibility that the two things were related, that he was becoming more _human_ somehow, but that was... crazy, ridiculous, absolutely impossible. Or was it? It would explain both events, if after three years living bonded to a human, he was somehow drawing on her life and turning slowly human himself. Kaoru showed no signs of it, but what signs would there be? If he was draining her, she would be weakened, but that could easily be explained by her pregnancy. And if she was absorbing his vampirism (God knows he'd bitten her enough times that it would be surprising if there _hadn't_ been an effect) then maybe she would become nocturnal, become physically tougher, but her job required that she sleep during the day, and she had given up kendo in her condition, so no one would notice if she was becoming faster or stronger, and Kenshin was certainly not going attempt to injure her to see if she healed more quickly than average. But at least she hadn't expressed any interest in drinking blood.

_Not yet_, his treacherous mind supplied before he could silence it.

God, if that were true, what would they make then? A couple of half-vampires, with a half-vampire child. Kenshin shook his head, he didn't even know where to begin to process that image. He didn't want to diminish Kaoru's humanity, but he had to admit, he was not opposed to her becoming less vulnerable, and a suppressed, selfish part of him liked the idea of never having to watch her grow old and die.

But these dreams... He didn't know what they were or where they came from, but he knew there was something strange about them. The relentless horror of them for one thing. He understood that if someone was about to become a father for the first time, he might have nightmares about what could go wrong - and Kenshin had more cause to worry than most – but these dreams were relentless... Every day, from the moment life left him, to the moment he woke up the next night, his mind was a cinema for worse than his worst fears. Things he didn't even dare to think were acted out for him, with no gore or tragedy spared. It had started with visions of Tomoe, and her death in the clearing, but now the focus was almost always on Kaoru and the baby. It made him afraid of the morning, but of course he couldn't avoid his 'sleep' like a human could, nor could he ever wake up from these terrors until night had fallen.

He had been having these nightmares for months, and they were only getting worse. In the beginning, his memories of them were blurred, and the dreams themselves lasted only a few minutes at a time. But now they lasted all night, and every second was recalled in perfect clarity whenever he closed his eyes. It was fast approaching the point where he would have to tell someone, and seek help. He wouldn't be able to stand it much longer, waking up nauseated, in a soul-deep terror that Kaoru had suffered some gruesome, agonized, monstrous death because of him, and that he would spend the rest of his life haunted by his demonic, inhuman child.

But he wouldn't tell Kaoru about the dreams tonight. Tonight was for looking to the future with hope, decorating the small room with bright colours, a shelter for a sweet and innocent baby. And Kaoru was happy, something that didn't happen often enough these days. She was watching what he was doing with a grin, visualising the nursery in her head as it took shape around her. Kenshin just hoped they would have a baby to put in it.

"Oh, Kenshin, this place is turning out _great_!" Kaoru exclaimed, looking around the room. They had already ordered all the furniture and accessories they would need from the internet, such as a crib, a changing table, and toys. They would be arriving over the next few days, and the couple would assemble them together, unless Kaoru needed Kenshin to work. She couldn't go out herself anymore, or risk being seen. This baby didn't need black market rumour mills talking about it, so Kaoru accepted that when she began to show, she should stay in the Dojo. She could direct operations from her offices, but when she needed a special lead followed up, Kenshin had volunteered for the job. Kaoru trusted him, because despite his inexperience in muscling around members of the supernatural underground, she also knew he wouldn't allow himself to be intimidated, and he wouldn't come back to her empty handed.

Kenshin smiled at Kaoru's comment and continued painting. He thought again about Kaoru's mother, and what Dr Gensai had revealed about her. Kaoru was still working through it, but as was her manner, she didn't let it stop her getting on with what needed to be done. The night they had met with the doctors, they had discussed it together once they got back to the apartment. Kaoru had freaked out a little bit, but neither of them had mentioned the elephant in the room. Neither of them had said out loud, "What if our relationship is based on an addiction?". That had been what Dr Gensai was implying, that Kaoru was unconsciously following in her mother's footsteps. Addictions could be based on genetics, alcoholism can be passed on from one generation to the next, so there was the possibility that Kaoru was addicted to him.

However, she had never shown any signs of it, no withdrawal or desperation to be bitten again, so they had decided to work under the assumption that Kaoru had dodged that bullet. But Kenshin still worried that, while Dr Gensai suggested that the vampire endorphins in her mother's body had somehow affected Kaoru before she was born, so too might he have contributed to his own child's inhumanity by contaminating Kaoru's body. Kenshin thought darkly, _if this child is born human, it'll be a miracle._

That being said, Kaoru's optimism and joy was contagious. _She_ clearly wasn't having nightmares about what kind of monster might be growing inside of her. So it was easier than Kenshin had thought it would be to be happy for her, and to hide his anxiety from her. For the majority, he loved the baby, it was just the nightmares and his 'what if?s that made him doubt.

He had something he wanted to ask his lover.

"Kaoru," he began, and his serious tone made her turn to him and look at him worriedly. It hurt him that that was her first reaction now, to be afraid of some new issue that would fall on her to be fixed. Kenshin didn't want her to worry, so he smiled and she seemed to relax. But smiling was difficult, because he wasn't relaxed himself, he was nervous as all hell. He was about to do something that might ruin their relationship if it went bad. He stopped painting and sat down on the step ladder.

"This baby is going to make us a family, isn't it?" he said, leading into it.

Kaoru beamed at him and laid her hand on her stomach. "Yeah, it is," she said, and his mouth went dry. He found it hard to meet her innocent eyes, looking at the floor instead like a teenager, though he couldn't remember his teenage years himself.

"Well, a family is more than just a couple and a child, right?" Kaoru looked confused. "I mean, a mother and father, they're usually... husband and wife." Kenshin dared to glance at her face, and she looked surprised, so he assumed she had understood his meaning.

"Kenshin... Are you asking me to marry you?" she asked, her voice sounding light and airy with shock. Kenshin kept his eyes on hers, wondering not for the first time at their beautiful deep blue colour. He nodded. Kaoru floundered, and he spoke again to explain, but unfortunately, it came out as a babble.

"I haven't asked before because no woman, let alone one such as you, should be tied to a vampire. I wanted you to always have the freedom to change your mind about being with me. But now, I want to be there for you, to have this baby with you. I want to give you security. I know that times are different now, and that women support themselves, and raise children on their own, and that you don't have to be married to have honour, but still, I just want... to give you a family. I don't want what I am to keep anything from you any longer," he said in a nervous rush.

Kaoru exhaled, and smiled sweetly at him. She walked over to where he was sitting on the step ladder and leaned against his knees, taking one hand in hers and placing her other one against his cheek.

"Kenshin..." she began, and he sensed a rejection, but her tone was reassuring. "You don't have to marry me because I got pregnant." He quickly opened his mouth to object, but she silenced him. "You don't have to be my husband to be with me, to help me raise this baby, and give it a secure home. I would love to be your wife, I know you would be an amazing husband, but... I've thought about this before, and it's just not a good idea. Not for the reasons you think! Not because I'm ever going to change my mind about being with you, because I'm not, but just because... I'm mortal, and you're not. I'll age, and one day die - you won't. I've made my peace with that, but getting married would be a mistake. You understand, don't you?" she said, looking down at him lovingly.

Kenshin didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he wanted to give her everything, _be_ everything for her, but on the other, he understood what she was saying. It was exactly what he thought – a vampire and a human didn't make good life partners. Even if his and Kaoru's reasons for thinking so were different, the result was the same. He nodded and she bent down to kiss him tenderly.

"Thanks for asking though," she teased.

Kenshin considered the new problem she had brought to the foreground. What would they do when Kaoru's mortality became a problem? Neither of them wanted her to be changed into a vampire, but it also seemed that neither of them would happily separate from the other. Kenshin suddenly appreciated how too few years of happiness he had left, and pulled Kaoru down for another kiss. Even if they were not officially married, she felt like his wife in his heart, and he was hers forever.


End file.
